


Build-a-Band

by randomcannedcheese



Series: Blood of the Covenant [1]
Category: Gorillaz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Drug Use/Abuse, Canon-Typical Violence, Car Accidents, Drinking, Drug Abuse, Drug Addiction, Drug Use, Gen, Gun Violence, Hospitalization, Intoxication, Major Character Injury, Panic Attacks, Possession, Smoking, Therapy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-13
Updated: 2018-12-01
Packaged: 2019-07-11 17:31:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 44,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15977084
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/randomcannedcheese/pseuds/randomcannedcheese
Summary: Take a lonely bassist who’s given up, a 19-year-old singer with blue hair and brain damage, an American drummer who’s possessed by his best friend, and a child guitarist who can’t speak English, throw them all into a Winnebago and what do you get? A band and, maybe if you’re lucky, a family.





	1. Enter 2D

**Author's Note:**

> Decided to rewrite the lore because I can. Tags will be updated as I add chapters. 
> 
> Also just want to send a quick thanks to Mollie. She has been so helpful and supportive. I wouldn't have gotten this far without her kind words!

"You know, for a while we were all living in my Winnebago."

The therapist pauses, lifting pen from paper to give Murdoc a slightly worried look. She then continues to scribble, as if the sudden change in topic hadn’t startled her. "You and three other people lived in a camper?"

"Yeah. For about six months." The man turns away, suddenly interested in the wall. She allows them to sit in silence for a few minutes but eventually decides to push.

"Mind telling me about it?"

Murdoc turns sharply and glares her down, but she doesn't flinch. It takes time, but he finally nods. "Alright. It started off when I met 2D."

\---------------

"Um... sir? You can't leave your truck parked in the lot."

Murdoc stood in the door of his more mobile than most home, staring down at a blue haired kid. He was built like a string bean and seemed to be a little dull in the head. Already Murdoc was brainstorming ways to get him to leave him alone, each one crueler than the last.

"And what are you going to do about it? Call the cops?" Murdoc leaned against the door and lit a cigarette.

The young man fidgeted with the sleeve of his shirt, color draining from his already pale face. "Yes, I will."

"Really?"

"I mean, I could." The kid looks a Murdoc for all of a second before turning away, not daring to even try to meet Murdoc's eyes. "If I go back inside and you haven't left I'm going to be in trouble. Could you please just go?"

"No."

Slowly the kid began to unwind, anxiety rolling around him in waves. He began to scratch at the back of his hands, fingers twitching, while his head flicked back and forth between Murdoc and the store behind. "Please, my boss will kill me. I need this job. Could you at least come inside and act like your shopping?"

The last bit of the kid’s plea gave Murdoc pause. It's not like he had money to buy anything but knowing what the store carried might be useful. 

After staring the kid down for a few minutes, watching his rising anxiety like a dinner show and finishing off his cigarette, Murdoc finally replied. "Fine. I'll go inside."

\-------------

The store had a surprising selection. While they only advertised organs and pianos, there was also a classical strings and winds section, as well as some decent synthesizers and percussion. In the very back, however, Murdoc found what he was looking for. The store had two different basses to choose from, and both were better than the one Murdoc currently owned. He reached for the more expensive one, mostly to piss of the manager who hadn’t stopped glaring at him and sat down on a nearby piano bench. A quick strum revealed that the instrument was well taken care of and even tuned properly. Before long Murdoc was running though his favorite songs, spending some time getting to know the bass.

He had been playing for close to half an hour before he picked up on the fact that someone was singing along. Careful not to stop playing, Murdoc began to look around the store, trying to find the source of the unintended duet. The store was empty except for himself and the employees, but the manager had retreated to the office in the back. To his shock, it turned out to be the skinny kid from earlier. He was standing behind the counter, back straight and arms at his sides, singing along to “Come Together” by The Beatles while staring at the ceiling. From what Murdoc could tell, the kid seemed to have forgotten that he was at work, although it didn’t seem to matter, as Murdoc and the manager were the only other people in the shop.

As he played, Murdoc listened to the kid, waiting for him to mess up, for him to skip a beat, for his voice to crack badly, for him to miss the high notes, but it never happened. The kid was good, and his voice was unique. Good enough for people to be interested in him. He would make a great solo artist, Murdoc thought to himself. And if Murdoc just so happened to be writing all the songs for the kid and maybe even managing him…

“Hey, kid.” The kid didn’t even move, just kept singing and staring at the ceiling. “Kid.” Still nothing. Finally, Murdoc realized that he had to stop playing to get the kid to stop singing. The second he cut off the kid went silent.

“Kid, you like singing?”

“Oh, you talking to me?”

“No one else here, is there?”

“No?”

“Then yeah, I’m talking to you. So, answer the question.”

“What question?”

Murdoc had a brief moment when he considered strangling the kid instead but quickly squashed that thought. He had an idea that might get him what he had always dreamed of, or at least closer to it. He wasn’t going to let a minor annoyance get in the way. “I asked if you like to sing.”

The kids face lit up. “Oh, yeah. Always liked music. Just makes sense, doesn’t it? It’s like feelings but better because it’s not inside you, it’s outside.”

 “Um, sure. Anyways, you ever considered singing for a living?”

“You asking me to join your band?”

“What, no. I don’t want a band. I want to manage you in your singing career.”

“Wouldn’t that be lonely though? Being out on stage without anybody else there?”

“No, because there would be hordes of adoring fans all screaming your name.”

“But a band helps you out. If you make a mistake they can help you fix it but if you’re all alone it’s over.”

“So, what? The answers no?”

“Well, I’ve always thought that if I did something with music it would be with a band. Never wanted to go in alone. Why don’t you be in a band with me?”

Murdoc could feel his eye twitching. This kid was not only irritating but persistent. His singing voice was enough though, enough for Murdoc to keep talking to him instead of heading back to the Winnebago for a stiff drink. “I’ve already been in a band. Loads of them. They didn’t work out.”

“But I’m not those other bands. We can get a drummer and a guitar player and be different from your other bands.”

“Listen kid, if you’re not interested just tell me and I’ll go.”

“I just don’t get what you’ve got against being in a band with me. You are a really great bass player. It’s easy for me to sing when you play. It makes sense that we are both in a band together.”

“It’s not that easy kid.”

“Why not?”

“It’s just not.”

Finally, the kid stopped talking, seeming to think things over. “Well, it doesn’t really matter if I’m a solo artist or not right now, right? We need to write songs and practice and stuff. We can talk about the band later.”

“One: I will be writing all the songs, and Two: There will be no band.”

“Whatever you say. What’s your name? Got to know the name of my bandmate.”

“Murdoc Niccals. And like I said before there will be no band. What’s your name kid?”

“Stuart Pot. I’m not a kid by the way. I’m 19.” Murdoc just rolled his eyes at this and stood up.

“Well, Mr. Not-a-Kid, I’ll be parked outside for this shop for the next week. Stop over whenever you want to start going over songs.” With that, Murdoc sauntered towards the door, feeling only slightly better. The kid probably won’t work out, but he seemed like the best option given the circumstances.

Murdoc gave the kid a quick glance before walking out. He was staring into space again, just as oblivious as when he was singing. The door slammed shut and Murdoc made his way back to the Winnebago.

\---------------

Murdoc honestly hadn’t expected the for the kid to show up. When he heard the knock at his door the next day, he had assumed that the manager from the shop had called the cops on him. Wouldn’t have been the first time. However, when he opened his door, Stuart Pot stood on the other side, with a backpack over one shoulder and a smile on his face.

“I’m ready to start working Murdoc.”

Murdoc sighed and walked outside. He wasn’t ready to deal with a kid in his Winnebago, especially if he washed out. The hangover Murdoc had didn’t help either.

“Ok, let’s talk about your look first. It’s not bad, people always go for a pretty boy. Now, how long does the hair dye take to wash out? We going to have to redo it every week or something? Because I don’t want to deal with that shit week after week.”

“Oh, my hair is naturally this color.” It took Stuart a second to realize that Murdoc didn’t understand. “Um, I fell out of a tree when I was a kid. It caused some brain damage and did this to my hair.”

“That’s…interesting. But good for us because different color hair pulls girls in. Don’t know why. Now, let’s talk about your contract.”

“We really should wait to figure that out after we find the other two band members.”

“For the last time, there will be no band.”

Stuart nodded at this but barreled ahead anyways. “Well then, we should wait until I’ve sung some of your songs. You’ve said that you wanted to be the one to write the songs. If I don’t sound good singing them then the whole thing is pointless right?”

Murdoc felt like he was being played, but he honestly didn’t expect the kid to know how. It was probably just a poor memory from the apparent brain damage that was causing Stuart to forget. The happy go lucky smile said otherwise but Murdoc ignored this.

“You’re right. Come back in a few days and we can go over a song or two. If I like the sound, we can continue this talk.”

“Sounds good, Muds. See you in a few days!”

“Wait, what did you just call me?”

“Muds. It’s a nickname. You don’t have a problem with it, do you?”

“No. Just never had a nickname before that wasn’t a foul word.”

“Well, now you do. Bye Muds!” With that Stuart was walking away and Murdoc was left feeling like he had somehow lost a game of poker he hadn’t even know he was playing. 

\---------------

Stuart returned a few days later, as instructed. He had just finished up a shift at the shop, but the long tedious day hadn’t dampened his excitement.

The knock at the door echoed though the RV’s frame and Stuart heard footsteps inside. Murdoc answered the door in what looked like the same sweater he wore the other day. Or perhaps he was one of those people who only wore the same style of clothes every day. In fact, now that Stuart thought about it, he had never seen Murdoc in anything other than a black sweater both times he had met him.

“What are you just standing there for? Get in here so we can get started already.”

“Oh, sorry.” Stuart jumped up the two metal steps and into the camper. Murdoc quickly slammed the door shut behind him.

Every inch of the Winnebago was covered in papers. Some were filled with writing, others were just a few lines. A couple just had a single word or crude sketch. They lined the walls, coated the cabinets, even carpeted the floor in some places. There were also empty bottles and cans shoved in corners and at least four ash trays, all full of cigarette debris.

“You live here?”

“Yeah, what of it?” Stuart flinched back. Murdoc was obviously a little defensive about his current living situation.

“It’s just nice, is all. I like it.” At this Murdoc nodded and turned away, reaching over to some papers sitting on the kitchen counter that had gone yellow with age.

“This is a song I have been working on for a while. Probably work best with your voice. Range isn’t too hard, but it’s got some ups and downs to watch out for. Want to try it out?”

“Uh, sure. Got a keyboard anywhere?”

“Corner by the passenger seat.”

The keyboard was old and some of the keys had been painted with what looked like red nail polish. It was covered in a layer of dust.

Stuart was quick to set it up and in no time at all he was playing the melody of the song.

“This is interesting. Kind of like a French film that’s been blurred. Think I’m ready to try singing it. Could you play the bass line for me?”

“Yeah, hold on.” Murdoc was even faster to set up than Stuart. His bass was probably older than the keyboard and even more strange. It had stickers of bands Stuart had never heard of, scribbles in black marker of crows, and words that were too difficult to read carved around the bridge. Stuart couldn’t tell what color the bass originally was with how scratched up and faded it was.

“You ready?” Murdoc looked up from the amp he had been fiddling with.

“Oh, yeah.” They played though the song a few times before they were satisfied with the sound. It was obvious that Murdoc was impressed with the result.

“Murdoc. Can I say something?”

“Go ahead, not stopping you.”

“There are a few lines that just don’t sound right. Could I maybe change them?” The question seemed to make Murdoc uncomfortable, but he reluctantly nodded. Stuart scribbled down his changes and they went through the song once more.

“Huh. That actually sounds a lot better. You’re real good at this Stu.”

“Thanks, Muds.” Stuart chose not to acknowledge the nickname Murdoc had given him. They continued playing the song, tweaking lines and harmonies until they were both happy with it.

“Think this song is about finished. Won’t be able to do anything with it until we get a drummer and a guitar player to record those parts, but it sounds pretty good, wouldn’t you say?”

“Yeah. We make a pretty good team, don’t you think Muds?”

“Still not going to be in a band with you Stu”

Stuart ignored this and instead looked around the Winnebago. “So where do the finished songs go?”

Murdoc shrugged. “Don’t know. Never finished a song before that I liked.”

“Well, let’s make a spot.” Stuart walked around the Winnebago, looking for an empty area on the walls. The only spot was above Murdoc’s bed. Hoping Murdoc wouldn’t get too mad, Stuart climbed up onto the bed and carefully taped the pages of the song on the empty wall. They ended up a little lopsided, but it stayed in place. He then climbed down and stood next to Murdoc. For a while, neither one of them spoke, instead choosing to stare at the papers taped to the wall and just bask in the fact that they had finished their first song together.

“Well, Stu. It’s official. We’re making music now.” Stuart nodded but didn’t turn away from the wall, even when Murdoc clapped him on the shoulder. “Tomorrow Comes Today” would be one of many songs. He was sure of it.

\---------------

The duo worked well into the night and by the end, they had four different base lines and three different melodies. Lyrics seemed to be more challenging, as Stuart wanted to be involved in the writing, but in the end they found a solution. Granted, getting drunk and throwing darts at the wall to determine the next line was unorthodox but it seemed to work. Of course, with Murdoc and Stuart throwing the darts it had turned into a competition to see who could create the most ridiculous song. Aside from that, Murdoc had deemed the night rather productive.

When Stuart’s eyes started drooping Murdoc called an end to the song writing and dart competition.

“Stu, we’ve got a lot done for tonight, but you are useless to me if you’re asleep. We can work more tomorrow.” Stuart nodded and stood, trying to hold back a yawn.

“Ok, Muds. See you tomorrow yeah?”

“Yeah, yeah. See you tomorrow.” Stuart walked out of the RV and Murdoc followed to have a smoke in the cool night air. The blue haired man turned back to wave goodbye before continuing on his trip back home.

Murdoc watched it happen in slow motion. Stuart stepped out into the road, not bothering to check if cars were coming, likely thinking that it was too late for anyone to be out. The driver of the beat-up Volvo seemed to disagree. The car rounded the corner at a neck breaking speed, hitting Stuart dead on. Murdoc watched the other man’s head hit the car once on initial impact, then a second time as he was flipped over the vehicle. Just when Murdoc thought the situation couldn’t get any worse, the driver took off leaving Stu unconscious on the ground.

Murdoc ran over, screaming the entire time for anyone around to call 999. The owner of the store across the street who had watched the whole thing happen shouted back that an ambulance was on the way, then rushed to help Murdoc move Stu out of the road.

The blue haired man was out cold. He was banged up pretty badly, and from what Murdoc could tell, he had two dents on either side of his head. Despite all of this, his chest was moving up and down, indicating to Murdoc that he was alive.

It seemed to take an eternity for the ambulance to arrive. While he waited, Murdoc had carefully wrapped Stu’s head using the shop owner’s scarf and moved him into the recovery position on the sidewalk. After that, however, Murdoc didn’t know what to do. Minutes seemed to drag on for an eternity and Murdoc was forced to do nothing but wait. He hovered over Stu, worried that if he turned around for even a second something else would happen to the already injured man. The shop owner had retreated, saying that he would watch out for the ambulance.

“Well, Stu. Been working with you for all of a day and you’ve already managed to get yourself nearly killed. This better not be a trend or I will end you myself. Don’t have the time or the energy for this nonsense.” Murdoc kept talking, almost babbling, although Murdoc would be the first to deny it. Stuart didn’t move except to take shallow breaths.

Finally, the flashing lights of the ambulance filled the street. The EMT’s were quick to get Stuart onto a stretcher and into the truck. They asked Murdoc what happened and for basic information about Stuart, and he explained the situation to them and what he knew about the other man. They finished up their questions as fast as possible and were about to close the doors to the truck when Murdoc climbed inside.

“Listen here. This kid is my talent, and I’m his manager. If he’s going to the hospital I’m going with him.” The EMT just nodded and slammed the door shut. The ambulance took off, leaving Murdoc to realize that he had likely just attached himself to the blue haired kid much more permanently than he had originally intended.

\---------------

The second Murdoc stepped out of the ambulance he was escorted to a waiting room and told to wait. A nurse tracked him down and asked the same questions that the EMT’s had – “Can you tell me what happened?” “What is the patients name?” “Do you know of any previous medical procedures or conditions we should be aware of?” – before he was left alone. It was late enough at night that the emergency room that Murdoc had the waiting room completely to himself. The nurse had said she would update him after the doctor looked over Stuart. Until then, Murdoc decided to get some sleep.

About thirty minutes later, an older couple came running into the room, waking Murdoc up. They rushed the receptionist, begging for information about Stuart Pot, their son. Apparently, the hospital had called them saying that he had been in a car accident. The receptionist did her best to calm them, telling them in her best customer service voice that Stuart would be seen by a doctor as soon as one was available but until then, they would have to wait with the man that had brought him in. This caused the couple to look up from the desk to see just who this mysterious person was. They likely weren’t comforted to see Murdoc, with his holey black sweater, torn gray jeans, and crooked teeth. He leered at the two of them. Both seemed hesitant but, when they finished up with the receptionist, decided to sit across from Murdoc anyways.

“So,” the older man started, “How do you know Stuart? Or were you just passing by and decided to help?” It was obvious that both were wishing it was the latter. Murdoc was happy to disappoint.

“I’m his manager, Murdoc Niccals. Going to get him singing on stage if all goes according to plan. Make him famous.”

This seemed to unsettle the couple. “No,” Mr. Pot said, “Stuart isn’t going into music. He works at that music shop for now but when he’s older he’s going to work for the family business.”

Murdoc sneered at them. “Sorry to disappoint but Stu’s going to be a rock star.”

The older man chose not to answer Murdoc, instead turning towards his wife to start up a conversation about hospital bills or some nonsense. Murdoc drowned out their conversation. Not like it mattered to him.

They waited for an hour before the emergency room doctor came into the waiting room. Mr. and Mrs. Pot jumped up. Murdoc sunk further into his chair.

“Well, your son seems to be doing fine, all things considered. He suffered two head injuries, but it seems his brain function appears normal according to our scans. However, we won’t be able to be certain until he wakes up.”

“And when will that be?” Mr. Pot asked, but in a rather demanding tone.

“It’s hard to say. Head injuries are rather unpredictable in nature. He could wake up tomorrow, he could wake up in six months. We’ve done all we can at the moment, so for now it’s a waiting game. Would you like to go back and see him? We’ve moved him into a private room in the Intensive Care Unit.”

“Yes, thank you.” Mrs. Pot began to follow her husband and the doctor but suddenly stopped. She glanced back at Murdoc, gave him a look up and down, then turned to face him fully. “Mr. Niccals, would you like to come back with us? As his manager you should be fully aware of his condition.”

Murdoc tried to come up with a reason to decline, but the woman had a good point. They all made their way though the hospital, walking back to the private rooms. Stuart was lying in a hospital bed with his head wrapped in bandages. He was pale and had a couple scratches on his face but other than that he looked alright. Mrs. Pot sat down on the bed and gently brushed Stuart’s hair from his face. Mr. Pot sat down in the only chair and stared at his hurt son. Suddenly Murdoc felt like he was intruding. He stayed for a few more minutes but soon decided that it was time to leave. Mrs. Pot watched him but didn’t try to stop him.

It was unfortunate, but the kid probably won’t work out, not if he stayed in the hospital for too long. Murdoc stepped outside and lit a cigarette. It was better anyways if Murdoc didn’t get attached. The kid had already gotten hit by a car because of him, no reason to make it worse.

Murdoc finished off his cigarette and watched the traffic go by. Time to head back, he supposed.

The air outside the hospital was cold, even with the thick sweater that Murdoc wore. He moved with purpose, walking towards the car park, only to realize when he got there that he had come in an ambulance and not the Winnebago. Not only that, but he didn’t have his wallet or money to pay a cab.

“Mr. Niccals. They said that you came in with the ambulance. Would you like a ride home?” Behind Murdoc stood Mrs. Pot. She had her purse and car keys in hand.

“Thanks, but I’ll be fine. Can probably walk from here.” It would be a freezing, miserable walk that would likely end with Murdoc sick for a week, but this was the price he paid for doing anything nice for Stuart.

“Please, Mr. Niccals. I insist.” The woman had a slight build and was shorter than Murdoc but when she grabbed his wrist to pull him towards her car, her grip was iron. There was no arguing with her.

They got into the car and, after Murdoc told her where she could drop him off, traveled in silence for a while. It was only after they had made it a good distance from the hospital that Mrs. Pot decided to speak.

“You know Mr. Niccals, my son has been talking to me recently about starting a band with a man named Muds.” Murdoc chose not to respond to her and instead stared out the window. He couldn’t see much in the dark, but it was better than trying to answer to that.

“You say he’s your talent, that you’re his manager, but I think Stuart sees things differently. You see, Stuart is usually a very quiet boy. He keeps his thoughts to himself, chooses not to speak to me unless he has something he wants to say. Recently though, he’s been talking more. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so happy as when he’s talking about this Muds character and the fantastic music that they’re going to write together.” Murdoc dared a glance at the woman. Even this late, she wore a pencil skirt, simple blouse, and makeup. In her ears hung pearls. She seemed like the last person in the world to be of any threat to anyone, but Murdoc knew differently. The air in the car had grown cold but thick. She was not a woman to be trifled with, and somehow, Murdoc got the feeling that he had already managed to piss her off.

“My husband, though he means well, has never really had an interest in Stuart’s music. He has always wanted Stuart to work at the amusement park he runs. I know he just wants what’s best for Stuart, but Stuart needs music in his life. He’s talented, always has been, and if he has the chance to do what he loves in life, who am I to try and stop him.”

The car pulled up to the Emporium. She put the car in park, but before Murdoc could get out she grabbed onto the front of his sweater. With the amount of fabric she had in her fist, the neckline was almost choking him. She turned him towards her and Murdoc came face to face with the embodiment of pure rage.

“Mr. Niccals.” Her voice was calm but was like knives digging into his chest at the same time. “I’m only going to say this once. When my son recovers, and he will recover, you are going to start a band with him. You will take care of him, make sure he stays out of trouble. You are going to ensure his safety and you know why? Because there is no one in this world that could kill you faster than an angry mother. Do you understand?” Murdoc nodded. She released him and he almost face planted into the pavement with how quickly he got out of the car.

“Good night, Mr. Niccals. I expect you will be visiting Stuart in the hospital tomorrow.” Before Murdoc could think to respond, the woman drove away.

\---------------

When Murdoc pulled the camper into a parking spot at the hospital the next day, he tried to tell himself that it was only because he feared for his life. Telling himself this didn’t erase the fact that he was genuinely concerned for Stuart, but he chose to ignore that key piece of information.

Murdoc made his way inside, bypassing the receptionist’s desk and heading straight back to Stuart’s room. Since last night, a few people had left flowers and balloons and even a gift basket for the kid, but there was no one in sight. All the better for Murdoc, who never wanted to see Mrs. Pot again.

The gift basket was pilfered with gusto. Before long Murdoc was crunching on chocolate covered peanuts, sitting on the only chair in the room with his feet propped up on the bed. Stuart didn’t seem to have moved since last night. A glance at his chart as he came in told Murdoc that his condition was unchanged, that he was unconscious for now but was stable other than that. The doctors didn’t want to say if he had any kind of serious damage until Stuart was up and talking. Until then, Murdoc was more than happy to watch tennis from the TV in Stuart’s room. Mrs. Pot had said to visit and all. Murdoc was just doing what she wanted.

\---------------

It had been two weeks since Stuart had gotten into his accident and little had changed. The doctors were still idiots who didn’t want to say anything that would get them sued. Murdoc was still scared enough of Mrs. Pot to visit every few days. The manager of the Emporium where Murdoc parked the Winnebago still glared at him through the windows of the shop but there wasn’t much he could do with Murdoc coming and going from the hospital to visit his injured employee.

The day started out like any other. Murdoc got up, switched out the light long sleeve t-shirt he slept in for a thicker long sleeve sweater, threw on some jeans, and drove to the hospital. Stuart’s room was still the same. Flowers that had now wilted, cards that were starting to bend due to their cheapness and the standing up position they had been forced into, and the ransacked gift basket were all still in the same place that Murdoc had left them from his last visit. The chair he usually sat in had been moved to the other side, but Stuart’s mother had likely done that. She didn’t seem to mind having her back to the door - Murdoc wouldn’t either if he could invoke terror into the hearts of men like she could - but Murdoc wasn’t going to take any risks.

He dragged the chair over, placed it on the left side of the bed facing towards the door and turned on the TV. Today he didn’t feel like thinking too hard, so he switched to the weather channel and left it there. Apparently, it was supposed to rain tomorrow. Murdoc couldn’t help but smirk, thinking that this news wasn’t all that amazing, seeing how they lived in England. Now, if they lived on a tropical island, that bit of information might be really important.

Murdoc continued to let his mind drift, dreaming about having enough money to afford to live in the middle of nowhere and how peaceful that would be. He was in the middle of building his dream island house in his head when he heard a small groan. The sound surely hadn’t come from the TV, which was still displaying the forecasted weather. Murdoc turned around and saw two black eyes staring back at him. He was ashamed of how high pitched the scream he let out was.

“Murdoc? What are you doing here? And what am I doing here?”

Murdoc took a moment to compose himself. Stuart didn’t know, but his eyes were drastically different than before. They seemed to have filled with tar, every part of them that used to be another color was black. It almost reminded Murdoc of a song by The Rolling Stones.

“Um, listen mate. You got hit by a car and were in a coma for two weeks. You’re in the hospital right now. How about I get the doctor, yeah? He can check you over, make sure you’re ok.”

“Alright Muds. But why did you scream?”

Murdoc didn’t want to be the one to tell Stuart what he currently looked like. “You just startled me is all. Didn’t think you would wake up, being in a coma and all.”

Stuart seemed to accept this answer and Murdoc was quick to leave the room and find a doctor. When he finally hunted one down and they returned to the room, the doctor seemed to have the same reaction that Murdoc had, although he managed to keep it quiet. Stuart didn’t notice, lucky for them.

“Well, Mr. Pot. Glad to see you’ve woken up. If you wouldn’t mind, I’m going to ask you some basic questions. Are you experiencing any pain right now?”

“Um, yeah. My head hurts. And my vision is all wonky. It’s kind of dark and blurry? Is that normal after being in a coma?”

“Your friend here did say that when the car hit you your head collided with it several times. Can I do a physical examination?” Stuart nodded in reply.

The doctor then began to run through some simple procedures, shining a light into Stuart’s eyes, asking him to follow the light with his eyes, having him read a poster on the wall. When he was finished with these basic tests he nodded to himself, made a note on Stuart’s chart, and finally met his eyes.

“Mr. Pot, from what I can tell you have two eight ball fractures. Both the sclera and the cornea of both your eyes have filled with blood. This has caused a permeant change in the color of your eyes. This was likely caused on impact but perhaps developed later. We were careful not to do many tests while you were in a coma, as they could have caused even more irreversible damage. We can examine your eyes later to determine the extent of the damage and whether or not the eight ball fractures will cause sever vision impairment.”

Murdoc didn’t even have to look at Stuart to know that he was lost. “Doc, just tell him straight then leave. I’ll deal with the fall out.”

The doctor gave up the medical pretense. “Both of your eyes are now entirely black in color. I’m sorry but there isn’t a safe way to reverse the damage.” He reached into a cabinet by the door, pulled out a hand mirror, which he gave to Murdoc, and left.

“Muds, I still don’t understand. What’s going on? What does he mean?” Murdoc sat on the bed by Stuart’s hip and handed him the mirror. Stuart looked at his reflection for a few moments, and, just when Murdoc thought Stuart was handling it pretty well, he realized that the injured man hadn’t taken a breath in a long while.

“Hey, Stu. Breathe.” Stuart when from not breathing to hyperventilating in seconds. Suddenly he was doubled over, the mirror flipped reflective side down and slammed into the bed. Both of his hands were tangled into his hair and he started to cry.

“Oh god Murdoc I’m a freak my eyes are black I’m a demon Murdoc I don’t know what to do please tell me what to do my eyes are black I can’t-” Murdoc slapped one hand over Stuart’s mouth and the other onto his forehead, forcing his face up so their eyes could meet. When it appeared that he had Stuart’s attention, he began to speak in a calm, soothing tone.

“Listen to me Stu. You’re going to do everything the doctor says to get better, you are going to get yourself out of this hospital. Then, when you’re out, we are going to keep working on our music. Nothing has changed. So what if you’re eyes are black? It doesn’t matter. In fact, it looks really sick. You look like a blue haired, black eyed god now. The girls will eat it up. And it’s all natural, none of that stage makeup crap. You were made to be a rock star Stu. I’m going to make it happen.” Stuart finally seemed to have calmed down. He had started nodding along about half way through the talk but at the end he went still. He was breathing though, and that was all Murdoc was worried about for the time being.

“Muds. I’m just. People already stare at me. This will only make it worse. I don’t want to be a freak.”

Murdoc laughed at this. “Oh please. You’re no different than before. Still the same dumb kid that apparently doesn’t know how to look both ways before crossing the street. Just got some killer looking eyes now and two dents in your head.”

“Do I really have dents in my head?”

“How the hell should I know, it’s your head.”

The two lapsed into silence.

“You know. It’s not a bad stage name.”

“What isn’t?”

“Dents. No, even better, 2D.”

“I don’t get it. Why 2D?”

“Well, you’ve got two dents, right? 2D. Simple as that.”

2D smiled at Murdoc. “You gave me a nickname.”

“No, you imbecile! It’s a stage name, not a nickname.”

“Whatever you say Muds.”

“You got that right.”

\---------------

It took another week for 2D to finally get released from the hospital. It took two more weeks for 2D to end up at Murdoc’s door, luggage in hand with a smile on his face.

“My Mum kicked me out. Said I was old enough to move out and if I was going to join a band then I could take care of myself, but I’ve got no place to go so here I am.” The smile hadn’t left his face and behind him sat his mother in her idling car. She glared Murdoc down, causing a shudder to run down his spine. He opened to door wide for the beaming man, who waltzed in as if he owned the place. Murdoc was sure they had planned this but couldn’t bring himself to face the woman in fear of making her even slightly mad.

“Not a band, mate. Just working on your singing career.” As Murdoc said this he glanced out the Winnebago’s window, watching the woman outside drive away. With her gone he finally relaxed enough to sit down.

“Whatever you say. Where can I put my stuff?”

“Excuse me?”

“Well, I’ve brought some of my stuff with me, but my Mum will be dropping the rest off later. So where can I put it?” Murdoc wanted to argue, to kick 2D out and tell him to forget everything but Mrs. Pot’s face flashed in his mind like a giant warning beacon before he could even say a word. Living with a kid was better than the consequences.

Murdoc examined the area, looking for a place where 2D would be out of the way. Unfortunately, with the small size of the Winnebago, there wasn’t such a place. There was really only one choice for Murdoc to try and keep the level of privacy he was used to.

“There. The passenger seat. The overhead bin is mostly empty and there’s space around the seat. Best I can do for now.”

“Oh, that’s fine then.”

2D started unpacking his suitcases, loading a few books and a shocking number of horror movies into the provided space. Clothes were thrown on the floor under the dash, a melodica carefully placed in the glove box. 2D tried to hide his movements as he stashed a bottle of pills under the seat, but Murdoc noticed and made a mental note to snoop later. The other man continued to unpack and, by the time he was done, the entire space around the passenger seat was filled with 2D’s stuff and the compartment Murdoc had told him to use was almost entirely full of movies and books alone.

“2D?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s will all the movies?”

2D paused in his unpacking, turning to grin at Murdoc. “That’s my collection! I’ve got everything, all the good ones. Mostly zombie movies like Undead Murder Party, Attack of the 50 Foot Corpse, and Run Fast from the Walking Dead. Also got a few others like Vampire Death Match and Frankenstein’s Daughter’s Vacation.”

“Something wrong with Dracula? Or something else normal?” The look 2D sent him was so similar to his mother’s that Murdoc almost flung himself out of his chair to get away. It also shook him up enough that, when 2D started ranting about the so-called classics and why they were a terrible representation of horror movies, Murdoc didn’t try to shut him up.

2D went on and on about horror movies for two hours and only stopped because of a knock at the door. After two hours of listening to 2D, Murdoc rushed for the door, throwing it open only to jump backwards, screeching and flailing his arms. On the other side of the door stood a frigid Mrs. Pot with a gym bag in each hand and a pillow under an arm. She didn’t wait to be invited in.

Once inside she began to examine the interior, obviously disapproving of Murdoc’s life choices or perhaps of Murdoc entirely. The inspection of the Winnebago ended when Mrs. Pot caught sight of 2D and immediately dropped everything to pull him into a tight hug.

“Hi Mum.”

“Hello dear. How is everything? Do you think there will be enough room for the two of you? It looks awfully small. And dirty.” The last words were said with so much venom that Murdoc flinched back, suddenly cringing at every speck of dust in the camper. If either of them noticed Murdoc’s reaction, they didn’t show it. 2D was excitedly showing her his new sleeping arrangement. It was obvious she didn’t approve of this either but 2D seemed happy to ramble on.

Murdoc watched the two interact from the far side of the Winnebago. It was strange, seeing such a cold woman care for a dullard like 2D. Maybe demons like Mrs. Pot became attached to their young. Or maybe she was raising him to take over her place as Satan’s right-hand harpy. Murdoc pondered on heredity of witches and the passing down of demonic powers as the two Pot’s spoke about 2D’s future. He was considering whether or not he should be worried for his safety with 2D around when something Mrs. Pot said something that caught his attention.

“Now, dear. You picked up your last pay check, right? I know you tend to forget these things but you’re going to need that money.”

“Yeah Mum. Got it yesterday.”

“Wait, what?” Both 2D and his mother stopped talking and sharply turned to look at Murdoc. “What do you mean last pay check?”

“Oh, I didn’t tell you? I quit my job last week. Figured I should concentrate just on music making from now on.”

“What! You idiot! You quit your job?” Using some kind of dark magic, Mrs. Pot was suddenly standing in front of Murdoc, centimeters away from his face. A cold draft came from nowhere and Murdoc knew he was staring death in the face.

“Mr. Niccals. Do you remember what we talked about last time we saw each other?” Murdoc nodded.

“You haven’t had a change of heart, have you?” Murdoc shook his head.

“Then you don’t have a problem with 2D quitting his job to fulfill his dream?” Murdoc shook his head again.

“Good.” The chill that had filled the room lifted like it never existed. “Now that that’s settled, I have to be going dear. Please take care of yourself and come visit whenever you would like. Don’t be a stranger.”

“I won’t be Mum.” She smiled, pressed a kiss to 2D’s cheek and was gone. Murdoc almost looked out the window to see if the woman rode a broom like a true Hollywood movie witch but decided against it. He didn’t need her catching him staring and putting a curse on him. He was already cursed with a 19-year-old who was now apparently living with him. He didn’t need warts in uncomfortable places on top of that.

After the stress of dealing with the likely evil woman, all Murdoc wanted to do was get a stiff drink – or twelve – and go to bed, but 2D had other plans. While Murdoc had been lost in thought, the blue haired man had finished putting his things away, or rather shoving the remaining bags into a corner, and was now standing in front of Murdoc smiling.

“Ready to get started, Muds?” He looked so happy, so excited to start playing music, positive emotion practically dripping off of him, that Murdoc couldn’t do anything but roll his eyes and agree.

\---------------

Neither 2D or Murdoc really thought that far ahead when it came to accommodations. It only took three days for the manager of the Uncle Norm’s Organ Emporium to come banging on the door of the Winnebago. When he told Murdoc that he would call the police if they didn’t leave Murdoc laughed in the man’s face. From Murdoc’s experience this was an empty threat 90% of the time. Unfortunately for both Murdoc and 2D, the manager wasn’t bluffing and within an hour of the original threat there was another knock at the door. This time it wasn’t an irritated shop worker but a uniformed officer who told them in a stern tone that they needed to be gone by the end of the day. Murdoc was ready to fight this, but 2D didn’t want to get in any more trouble and, after a long argument, Murdoc finally agreed to move.

The two ended up driving around the city for the rest of the day, bickering about possible places to set up camp. It was late afternoon when they finally found a place they could both agree on. The area was a good sized square parking lot that belonged to an abandoned mini mart. Surrounding them on all sides where equally abandoned buildings, each decrepit with broken windows and graffitied walls. When they stepped out of the Winnebago to have a smoke, however, they both decided the place was perfect. Just the click of Murdoc’s Cuban heels told them that the parking lot had the best acoustics they could hope to come across. They grinned at each other then stepping out to further examine the area.

2D immediately went for the mini mart, pressing his face to the glass to peak inside. Murdoc marched up and down the perimeter of the lot, looking for any interlopers. When he found none, he shouted at 2D that he would be heading back to the Winnebago. His reply was a jumble of sound, none of it understandable because 2D’s face was still pushed up against the glass.

Without waiting for a clear response, Murdoc went back inside. He quickly made his way over to the passenger seat, sat down on the floor, and pulled out 2D’s poorly hidden bottle. According to the label, it was a prescription for pain medication. It had been picked up only a week ago with exactly sixty pills in it and was already almost empty. The maximum dosage was apparently only two pills a day. Murdoc frowned. If he was living with a drug addict it could end up getting him in trouble. He wasn’t able to think on this for long though, because 2D came busting through the door and Murdoc was forced to hastily shove the bottle back under the seat.

“Muds, you have to see this! The store still has all the machines and stuff inside and it looks super creepy. It might be haunted. We should check it out tonight.”

Murdoc stood up. “Why don’t we just look around now?”

“Because the ghosts aren’t out yet. Haven’t you seen any documentaries? They only come out at night.”

“Of course, how could I be so stupid.”

“It’s an honest mistake. I’ll teach you all about this stuff, don’t worry.” 2D turned away, beginning to dig around for a flashlight, so he couldn’t see Murdoc’s face twist in pure rage. But the second Murdoc started thinking about hitting 2D, about putting him in his place, he remembered Mrs. Pot’s words and that alone stopped his train of thought cold. Nothing like the constant threat on his life to keep him in line.

They waited around in the Winnebago until it was dark enough to go ghost hunting. Murdoc used the time to drink enough rum to kill the average man. Not only did he think this was necessary if he was going to be spending extended periods of time with 2D, but he also thought it might make the entire experience a little more entertaining. 2D spent the time gathering supplies in a duffle bag.

When 2D finally announced it was dark enough outside to begin, they both walked out, or stumbled in Murdoc’s case, and crept over to the mini mart.

“Ok, Murdoc. First rule of ghost hunting, we need to stick together. Got it? Murdoc?” The drunk bassist had disappeared. Without another person around, the parking lot suddenly seemed much colder.

“Murdoc? Where are you? Where did you go?” 2D grabbed a flashlight from his bag and switched it on. Even with the added light, Murdoc was nowhere to be seen.

“Listen Murdoc, this isn’t funny, so stop goofing off.” A window shattered behind 2D. He screamed, dropped the duffle bag, and ran towards the Winnebago but didn’t go inside. If something was out there, it might go after the lost and rather drunk bass player.

“Murdoc! You need to get back here right now! Something found us!” A low moan rose up around 2D, echoing through the lot and getting louder and closer. It morphed into a ghastly laugh, and finally 2D decided he needed to get somewhere safe, with or without Murdoc. He reached the Winnebago quickly, launching himself at the door, only to find it locked.

“Murdoc! Murdoc! The door won’t open! Where are you? Please, I need help!” He continued to shake the door, trying desperately to get inside where he might be safe, but it didn’t budge. Suddenly, the laughter stopped, and the entire parking lot went dead quiet. 2D froze, didn’t turn around, didn’t blink. A cold sweat soaked through his shirt, his hands shook from where they still held tightly onto the door handle. He knew he was being watched, he couldn’t find Murdoc, he was going to die in this abandoned parking lot, he was sure. He could almost feel something getting closer but there was still no sound, the world around him was silent apart from the ringing in his ears.

Someone shouted BOO and grabbed his shoulder from behind and 2D went crumbling to the ground. He could hear that person laughing, the same hoarse laugh that had haunted the area earlier, but it was distant. There were tears falling from his eyes, but they didn’t feel right. It was more like he was remembering what crying felt like, rather than actually crying. The person finally stopped laughing and called out his name, asked him a question, but 2D couldn’t respond. His whole body was shaking, his breath came in short, panting huffs, he didn’t even open his eyes. The person talking to him went from giggling to questioning to concerned in seconds and, after the muted click of a door being unlocked, 2D was hauled up into someone’s arms and carried away.

Light filtered through his eye lids, but he still couldn’t open them. He was laid out on a soft surface, but he curled up into a ball once the person let go of him. Something soft and heavy was placed over him, it darkened the area enough to be comforting, the weight felt safe and helped his body stop shaking. The person who picked him up clanked around for a while before returning to 2D, asking questions that he still couldn’t understand. They left when a sharp whistle pierced the air and returned with something that smelt of lavender. They started talking again, this time not bothering with the questions. They kept talking for a while, 2D wasn’t sure how long, but it was soothing enough for him to finally feel safe to open his eyes.

The first thing he saw was Murdoc, sitting on a metal folding chair nearby, still holding a one-sided conversation. Murdoc wasn’t looking at 2D, or seemingly anything at all. His voice was calming though, and 2D relaxed enough to close his eyes once more.

When he opened his eyes again, he realized that he had fallen asleep. The lights in the Winnebago had been left on and sunlight was shining through the windows. 2D glanced around the camper and quickly found Murdoc snoring heavily in his chair, his chin resting against his chest and drool slowing dripping from his mouth. Further inspection revealed that 2D was sleeping in Murdoc’s bed and all the blanket’s in the Winnebago were piled on top of him. Two cups of herbal tea were on the kitchen table, one empty and the other still full but now cold.

2D carefully removed himself from the mound of blankets and snuck past Murdoc. He felt groggy and stiff, his head was both numb and throbbing in pain at the same time. After a quick pill from his secret stash to help his head, he snuck outside for a morning smoke. When he stepped out, however, he got a surprise. There in the parking lot was mismatched collection of lawn furniture. A few plastic beach chairs, a picnic table with an umbrella, a blue cooler, and even an ornamental flamingo, were scattered in front of the Winnebago.

“Figured we should make use of the space.” Murdoc was standing behind him, wiping drool from him mouth before motioning for 2D to leave the camper and further investigate.

2D only took a moment to examine the area before a giant smile broke out on his face. “Muds, this is great! Now we have a place to hang out and practice our music. It was a little cramped inside.”

“We can also come out here to get away from each other for a bit. It’s good to be able to have some space sometimes.” 2D looked over to Murdoc. The man had his head down, refusing to look at anything but the ground.

“Um, Muds. About last night…” 2D faded out, unsure of what to say. Murdoc didn’t seem to want to contribute to the conversation. After standing there awkwardly for minutes without speaking, Murdoc finally lifted his head.

“Listen mate. I didn’t think that – well – I didn’t think at all did I? I was drunk and wanted to mess with you, but I should have just left you alone to your ghost hunting or whatever bullshit. So why don’t you just stay here, and I will get out of your hair for the day. Give you some space.

“But I don’t want to be alone today. Last night was terrifying, thinking I was all alone. I don’t want to spend the day alone after that. We can do whatever you want, practice or write music or just sit around smoking, but just stick around. Please?”

Murdoc looked shocked. He obviously hadn’t expected that answer, but 2D truly didn’t want to sit and worry by himself, which is what he would do if Murdoc decided to leave for the day. 

“Sure. I’ll stick around. We can just relax today. Got a deck of cards we can fuck around with. Know how to play poker?” 2D shook his head. “Well you’re about to learn.”

\---------------

 “Muds, why won’t you tell me why you don’t want a band?”

2D and Murdoc were sitting on their - likely stolen - lawn furniture, doing nothing at all. It would almost be relaxing apart from the question nagging at 2D. He wanted an answer and he was getting it today.

“I just don’t want a band, ok? Now shut up.” Usually this method worked and 2D would drop whatever he had been talking about, but not today.

“But I know you do. The way you play and the way we work together tells me you want a band. You know how to play in a band, so why don’t we start one. It wouldn’t be hard.”

2D sat up in his chair. So did Murdoc. They glared at each other across the cooler currently serving as their table. “I already told you, I had a few bands. They didn’t work out. I don’t want another band. There I spoke in short sentences so you could understand.”

“But I still don’t get it. I’m not the same as the people you worked with before. It would be different if you started a band with me.”

“You wouldn’t understand 2D. I’m never going to be in a successful band so just drop it.”

“No, I won’t! I still don’t see why you don’t want a band!”

“You don’t know anything 2D so shut up!”

“Then explain it to me! Why don’t you want a band? Most people would sell their soul for a good band!”

"And I tried! I tried to sell my soul and the devil didn't even want it! Don't you understand! Not even Satan himself wanted my soul! I worshipped him and was going to give him everything for a band and he turned me away! Said my soul wasn't strong enough, wasn't good enough, that even he couldn't use it! Even left me with a mark to prove it!" With that, Murdoc stood up, threw his sweater off and turned around, revealing a five-pointed star. The highest point started on his neck, two more went down his arms, the last two ended on both hips. "He left me with this, a reminder that even the lord of all evil couldn't make use of me. Gave me a mark of the light to prove my uselessness."

"But that's a pentagram, right? Thought that was how you summoned demons and stuff."

Murdoc spun around to face 2D, his eyes filled with anger and emotion. "Do you just spend your life watching horror movies? Don’t you ever read? Pentagrams have different meanings depending on their position. This one, with one point facing up, represents spirit over matter. He marked me with a sign of God, so he would never forget. So I could never trick him or any of his cronies into taking my soul and making a deal."

2D let that information sink in. He didn't understand why Murdoc felt he had to go to such lengths for a band. He had already been in a few. Why try and make a deal with the devil when you already had what you wanted?

"We've already started a band though, so it's not like you really needed to make a deal, right? We're doing it without any help from anyone but us. We can be successful without any help from anyone but ourselves. Don’t need a deal with Satan when you’ve got good music." 2D finished his little speech, feeling quite smart. Murdoc just stared. After a few moments, 2D lowered his gaze. Maybe he had said something wrong, something that would make Murdoc want him out of the band.

"You're right."

2D’s head shot up. Murdoc’s eyes were wide, staring down at 2D like he had just grown a third arm. "What?"

Murdoc began to laugh, almost manically, with a sort of franticness that had 2D edging away from the other man. Before he got far, however, Murdoc rushed forward and grabbed 2D’s face in his hands, so the younger man couldn’t look away. 2D could see every centimeter of Murdoc’s face, every line in the skin, every slight discoloration, and in that moment 2D realized he had never been more frightened of Murdoc Niccals.

"We're going to be great 2D. They will remember us for the rest of time. And all because we did it without cheap tricks or gimmicks. Don't need money or friends in high places. Just need talent, and we've got loads of that. You are going to sing; the crowd will love you. You’re the bait that will lure them in, the music will make them stay. Just wait and see. Fuck the rest of them, God and Satan. Don’t need either of them when I’ve already got the perfect front man." Finally, Murdoc roughly released 2D’s face, only to begin pacing in front of the camper, muttering about deals and music and fans and fame. 2D saw his chance and quickly scurried away. He was happy that Murdoc was finally accepting that they were a band but suddenly he wasn’t sure it was a smart idea to team up with the other man. Despite this he knew he would go back, but only after Murdoc had calmed down. After all, 2D grinned as he thought, the best band in the world had music to write.

\---------------

“I’m sorry Murdoc, but our time is up. We’ll have to continue this conversation during our next session.”

Murdoc stops talking and looks up at his therapist. He totally forgot where he was, having gotten so absorbed in telling his story. He stands up awkwardly, ready to head out the door.

“Oh, of course. Thank you for your time.”

“I’ll see you next week. And Murdoc?” The man turns back, raising an eyebrow in response.

“I’m excited to hear what happens next. Your band obviously means quite a lot to you.”

“Yeah,” he says as he began to walk out, “they’re not half bad.”


	2. Enter Russel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two and you guys get to meet my favorite characters, Russel and Del! Very excited to write it at the beginning but for some reason this chapter has given me so much grief. Doesn't matter, it's finished now.

“You sure you want to go in alone? I can go in with you, wait in the lobby? Don’t mind waiting.”

Murdoc rolls his eyes, ready to jump out of the car the second it came to a stop. “Russel, I don’t need babysitting. I can go talk to some quack for an hour by myself. You go do whatever you do when we’re not around. Wank maybe, I don’t know. Just don’t sit in the lobby fretting.”

Russel pulls into the office’s parking lot and parks the car, then turns to Murdoc with a serious expression.

“Listen man. I just want you to know that we all support you. I know talking about things can be rough. If you need anything just tell us. We’re here for you.”

“I know that. Now stop being all sappy and go find something to do for an hour.” Murdoc hops out of the car and saunters toward the door. He waits until Russel drives away to go inside. Today they would be talking more about the band and Murdoc couldn’t help but be a little excited to continue his story.

\---------------

2D had been living with Murdoc for just over a month but already they were making great progress. Together they were writing song after song, lyrics seemed to come from thin air and land on the paper magically, chord progressions to match came to Murdoc as if from God, except Murdoc had already sworn off all deities for the foreseeable future so that wasn’t possible. They were creating music at a pace that most bands couldn’t even dream of. There was the one problem of the lack of both a drummer and a lead guitar player, or perhaps that was two problems. They could always just put up an ad in the paper and wait for people to try out, but it didn’t feel right to 2D. Somehow the other members needed to be special. They had to come to the band naturally.

All of this 2D pondered as he walked down the city streets. While he liked to wander and find things by happy accident, today he had a goal. His favorite record store had just announced that it would be closing its doors permanently and today would be his last chance to stock up on good music for a while. Finding a decent record store was always hard for 2D. It needed to have people who liked good music, not the new hipsters who thought that records were the next trend. He had gotten lucky with this place though because one of the most knowledgeable people in the world worked there.

The bell above the door rang as he walked in and a large black man waved at him from behind the counter.

“Hey, Stu.”

“Hi, Russel! How are the records?” This always gets a smile from Russel. 2D had said it the first time he came in, having fumbled trying to say too many things at once but the other man had just laughed and told him the records were doing well. It became a reoccurring question and was a comfort in 2D’s new hectic life.

“Records are good man. But you better start digging if you want something specific. Getting picked clean the last couple days with the shop closing and all.” The large man was leaning on his elbows, hands resting on the counter top, his fingers tapping out beats. 2D almost felt like he could recognize the song from just the tapping alone.

“Hey Russel, do you play any instruments?” 2D said, trying to act casual while flipping through the albums near the front counter.

“Yeah, played drums for a while.” 2D almost jumped for joy but managed to stop himself. Just barely. He continued to go through each record, not really looking at any of them. Suddenly his hunt for good music to tide him over seemed silly. He didn’t need records, not when the answer to the band’s problem was idlily tapping out beats to what 2D was sure was “My Generation” by The Who.

“Have you ever considered joining a band? You know, I’m in one right now and we could use a good drummer. It’s a really great band too. Already written a ton of songs and the bass player is amazing. He’s a little, um, coarse but you get used to it.”

“Sounds great man, but I can’t.”

“But the shop is closing. You could just get another job in the city but why not join the band? If you can play the drums and you like playing the drums, then you really should.”

“That’s great and everything Stu but most bands don’t make it. Besides, I’ve got some personal issues that you shouldn’t have to deal with.”

“We’ve got personal issues too! I’ve got memory problems, and Murdoc tried to sell his soul to Satan. It didn’t work though so he’s a little touchy about it. He’s also kind of mean but he knows what he’s doing. Really. We could be a good band and you could be part of it.”

“Stu-”

“And all we need is a lead guitar player after that. We already got a bunch of songs and they’re good songs. We can work with you and change the songs even because I know you like hip-hop, the good hip-hop, and we could use some hip-hop influence in the songs. Russel, it could be so good if you just give it a chance.”

Russel looked at 2D then lowered his head. “It sounds great Stu, but it’s just not realistic. Most bands don’t make it. Don’t want to end up that way.” 2D watched as Russel seemed to sink into himself and his finger tapping slowed to a halt. Something was bothering him that he wasn’t telling 2D and this was why he didn’t want to join the band, but 2D knew this was meant to be. It was supposed to be Russel.

“Something happened, didn’t it? Something terrible.” Russel’s head shot up and for a moment it seemed like he was going to protest but 2D forged on. “You can’t let the past hold you back. If you love making music, then that’s what you should do. I don’t know why you are scared to try but I know that if you don’t do what you love you will never be happy. I wasn’t before Murdoc let me join the band. I was bored and stuck in the same place doing the same thing. This is the first time in my life that I have had the chance to do something that makes me happy. I took a chance and I think you should too.”

When 2D finished talking the store fell silent. Russel didn’t move, just stared at 2D. 2D stared back, holding his ground as best he could. After a few minutes Russel finally spoke.

“Fine. I’ll give it a chance. But know this, I still have my doubts about this and if I decide to leave you need to understand that it just wasn’t right for me. I don’t want you to be upset if it doesn’t work out.”

“I completely understand! You need to do whatever it takes to be happy in life.”

“Good. Now, where do you meet to practice?”

 “In our Winnebago.”

Russel paused. “Your Winnebago?”

“Yeah. Murdoc owns it and I moved in there with him. I thought money would be an issue but apparently Murdoc has enough for both of us. Never did tell me how he got it.” 2D pondered this for a few seconds before realizing that he has gotten off track. Russel was patient though and waited for him to keep going. “You could probably move in too if you wanted. It’s bigger than it seems, Murdoc has lawn chairs. A lot of the time we just sit outside and play. We’re actually parked in an abandoned mini mart parking lot right now, so we get the entire place to ourselves.”

“I’m not living in a Winnebago with you and another person I have never met, Stu.”

“Oh well, it was worth asking. You’re always welcome.”

“Well, thanks but no thanks.”

“Of course. I actually should go tell Murdoc the good news. He will be so happy to hear that we have a drummer now.” With that, 2D quickly wrote down the address of the mini mart on the back of a receipt for Russel and turned for the door, only for Russel to stop him.

“Hey Stu, before you leave you gonna buy that album you’ve been holding for the last 15 minutes?”

2D looked down at his hands and realized that he was currently clutching the newest album of some trending boy band. He quickly threw it back onto a shelf and brushed his hands off on his pants like just touching the record had contaminated him.

Russel laughed at his display. “Well, at least I know my band has taste.”

\---------------

About half way back to the mini mart 2D decided not to tell Murdoc about Russel. This of course, was quickly found to be a mistake as Russel and Murdoc squared off. Russel had shown up on a particularly dreary day, knocking on the door just loudly enough for 2D to hear it. He had answered the door, gotten excited and called out to Murdoc that their drummer was here, only for all of them to end up standing outside. The gray sky seemed to fit the mood and the light rain only added to the dread that 2D felt. The weather, however, didn’t seem to be the cause of the cold wind that drifted between Russel and Murdoc. The air was tense enough to cause the hair to rise on the back of 2D’s neck and he could practically see the smoke rising from the top of Murdoc’s head. It would be an interesting mix of temperatures and feelings if 2D wasn’t fearing for his life.

“Stuart. You brought in a drummer? Without my permission?” Murdoc turned slowly to 2D, reminding the blue haired man of every single horror movie he had ever seen. This wouldn’t turn out well for him.

“Um. Yeah. Russel here is the best drummer out there Murdoc. And he knows a ton about hip-hop. He is going to be a great band member.” 2D spoke quietly, all the while slowly inching away from the other man. Russel just watched the interaction, his expression growing dark.

“You thought it would be smart to bring in some random guy off the streets? And some fat American thug no less?” Murdoc was walking towards 2D with intention.

“I didn’t think-”

“That’s right! You didn’t think for a second!” Murdoc had finally gotten close enough to raise a hand to 2D when suddenly Russel was between them. Murdoc’s hand slapped down on Russel’s bicep hard enough for the sound to echo through the lot, but the larger man didn’t even flinch. Murdoc went from mad to livid.

“What! You think you know how to run a band, Russel? Why don’t you go eat some fried chicken and catch an act at a strip club? Leave my band to me!”

“I’m not going to let you hurt Stu.”

“Get out of my way or fight me, you coward! Probably wouldn’t even fight fair. You Americans all have guns, don’t you? Probably just shoot-”

Murdoc didn’t get a chance to finish before Russel’s fist made contact with his nose. He went flying to the ground, blood already pouring down his face but that didn’t stop him from jumping to his feet and flinging himself at Russel. 2D watched in horror as both Russel and Murdoc tumbled to the ground in a flash of fists and teeth. They were both shouting at each other, their voices drowning out the sounds of traffic and birds and anything else and suddenly 2D had had enough.

“Stop it!” The two men didn’t respond, just kept hitting each other so 2D did the only thing he could think to do. He threw himself into the fray, trying to pry Murdoc from Russel. Murdoc didn’t seem interesting in stopping, if the snap of teeth near 2D’s hand was any indication, but Russel must not have wanted 2D to get hurt because he pulled away enough to grab 2D and fling him aside. This gave Murdoc a chance to stand up as well and suddenly they were back to their original positions, with Russel guarding 2D and Murdoc glaring them down.

“Murdoc, listen. Russel is really good. Just have him play a little. If you don’t like him, he can leave, but I think you will. And Russel, Murdoc didn’t mean what he said. He says things like that to try and make people mad because anger is the only emotion he knows how to deal with. Just give him some time to get to know you and he will get much better.”

Both men were staring at 2D. The silence was overwhelming. 2D could hear every drip of water off the drain pipes, every plop of rain down on the metal roof of the Winnebago. Murdoc’s harsh breathing was audible, even from a few feet away behind Russel.

Murdoc moved first, standing up from his crouched fighting position. His nose was still bloody and very crooked. 2D almost laughed at how his face now matching his personality but kept it in by pinching his leg through his pants. If he started laughing now, Murdoc was sure to turn Russel away and perhaps even kick 2D out and be done with the band entirely.

“Alright 2D. One chance. That’s all he gets.”

“That’s great! Thanks Murdoc! And Russel? What about you?”

“Hm. I can still leave whenever I want. Got it?”

2D nodded. “Understood. Now, how’s about we go inside and fix up Murdoc’s nose. He snores bad enough already. Don’t need his nose whistling on top of that.”

“2D, having a broken nose doesn’t make your nose whistle.”

“But what if it sets wrong?”

“Well my nose won’t set wrong, so it won’t be a problem, will it?”

“Guess not if we fix it now.”

They continued their chat as they made their way inside, Russel following behind them. 2D grabbed all three of them towels to dry themselves off and, in Russel and Murdoc’s case, to wipe off the dirt from their scuffle on the ground. Murdoc didn’t say anything, just took it as he walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, but Russel gave 2D a nod as he examined the camper. His eyes seemed drawn to the wall behind Murdoc’s bed.

“That’s our wall of finished songs. And other stuff. I put up funny lines we come up with. Probably won’t ever go in a song but it’s a good laugh sometimes.”

“These are your songs?” Russel pulled down “Sound Check,” a song that Murdoc had declared finished after working on it for a few weeks. The song seemed to frustrate Murdoc, and when they had finally finished he had tacked it to the wall with so much force that the entire vehicle shook. 2D had a feeling that Murdoc still wasn’t happy with it.

Russel looked over the song, flipping through the pages and humming the melody.

“This song ain’t bad. Could use something else though. Maybe some record scratches, some good DJing. You know, add a real vibe to the song.”

“That’s not a bad idea Russel. Hey, Murdoc, did you hear that?”

“Yeah, I heard.” There were a couple loud crashes from the bathroom before Murdoc emerged. He had changed clothes and his nose was taped up. Not with actual medical tap, just regular packing tape and some toilet paper to pad it. 2D knew that his already slightly crooked nose had no chance of recovery if they didn’t go to the hospital but since Murdoc would likely say no, 2D decided not to comment.

“Not a bad thought. One problem though. Don’t have the equipment for that.”

“I’ve got some stuff back at my place. I’ll just bring it over next time.”

“Good. Until then we should probably practice some, do a run through with what songs we’ve got. See if you’re as good as 2D says you are.” Murdoc seemed ready for another battle, but Russel just nodded and sat down at the kitchen table, waiting for instruction.

“Ok. 2D, grab your keyboard. Russel, I’ve got a snare drum, some sticks, and a cymbal. You’ll have to make do. And remember, it’s my band. If I don’t like you, you’re out.”

For the next few hours the band worked their way through the finished songs. Each song got small tweaks from Russel, with Murdoc’s permission of course. “Sound Check” seemed to get the most work and, once they were finished, Murdoc even allowed Russel to change the title a bit. Not too much, but 2D like the new title. “Sound Check (Gravity)” just had a better ring to it.

They quickly ran out of finished songs to work on and had begun to work on the unfinished songs. Murdoc pulled a few beers out of the fridge and passed them around, Russel offered each of them a cigar. Both seemed to help calm the earlier tension and now the three were working much more comfortably together. 2D couldn’t help but smile as he watched the other two bicker over what instrument would be the best to play the melody of “Latin Simone.” Slowly but surely, the band was coming together, and Russel would continue be a great part of it, 2D was sure.

\---------------

The knock on the door echoed through the nearly empty apartment in a way that seemed more ominous than it deserved to be. Russel never got company, his friends were either dead or living an ocean away and his new band members didn’t know where he lived. In fact, the only people who knew his address were his landlord and his boss, neither of which he wanted to see so early in the morning.

Another knock, this one louder and more insistent, rattled the thin walls and Russel finally decided to get out of bed and met his fate. He opened the door and was greeted by the pinched face of his rather angry landlord. The man was balding, short, and had the personality of a pissed off alley cat, always looking for a fight for any reason.

“Hey, Mr. Gettle. There some kind of problem?”

“Oh, I’ll tell you the problem. You haven’t paid your rent yet. It was due a week ago.”

“Shit, sorry man. I’m kind of in a bind right now. Low on funds.”

“Are you saying you can’t pay rent?”

“Um, I guess I am. But I can get the money-”

“Don’t bother. I want you out by tomorrow.”

“But sir, I-”

“No! You signed the lease, you know the rules. If you can’t pay the rent, you get kicked. Start packing, and if you’re not out by tomorrow night I’m calling the cops.” With that final note, Mr. Gettle turned and marched away, leaving Russel in a position he never wanted to be in. He was going to have to take 2D up on his offer.

\---------------

Knocking on the door of the Winnebago gave Russel a sick feeling of déjà vu from earlier, both foreboding and bothersome at the same time. He waited outside, rain water dripping from the brim of his hat and just when he was starting to think that nobody was going to answer, the door swung open to relive a bare chested 2D. Immediately Russel caught sight of two thin scars, both a little less than half way down his chest and running parallel to his ribs on either side. Russel was curious what had caused such even scars but was quick to glance up at 2D’s face. It wasn’t any of his business.

“Hey man, mind if I come in?”

“Russel! Of course, get in here! Can’t have our drummer getting a cold!” Russel stepped in, suddenly feeling out of place. He had been there multiple times for practice sessions and hadn’t cared about walking into the shared living space, but now, with what he was about to ask, it felt like he was intruding.

“Want some tea? Just woke up, was about to make a cup when you showed up.”

“Sure. Listen, I’ve got something to ask you and Murdoc. He up?”

“Maybe. Hey, Muds! You awake yet?” The reply 2D got wasn’t so much a word as it was a screech. “Yep, he’s up. What do you need?”

“I -um- well. How do I put this?”

“Oh, spit it out already!” Russel glanced over and found Murdoc sitting up in his bed, hair a mess and long sleeve shirt wrinkled. “Be here all day waiting for you to ask us a bloody question.”

“2D, remember how you offered to let me stay in the RV with you and Murdoc? Well, my landlord is kicking me out and I need a place to live...”

“Wait. What?” Murdoc seemed a lot more interested in the conversation now that it affected him directly.

“I have till tomorrow night to find a new place. 2D offered. I understand though if you don’t want me here. It’s a small space for three grown men. I can find a cheaper apartment.”

“Russel, of course you can stay here!” “No.” Both 2D and Murdoc spoke at the same time, then glared at the other.

“Murdoc, he can stay here. We’re all a band, we need to support each other.”

“No. I agreed to take you because, well, I had to. But I don’t have to take him. He doesn’t have a demon mother breathing down my neck and threatening my life.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind. It doesn’t matter. He’s not staying here and that’s final.”

“But Murdoc, imagine how helpful it would be if he lived here. We could practice all the time, we wouldn’t have to go somewhere to pick him up or worry about him showing up to a gig on time because he would be living with us. It would be so convenient!” The grin on 2D’s face was goofy and almost sincere but his words were carefully strung like a spider’s web. The perfect trap for a man like Murdoc. By Murdoc’s silence, Russel could tell that he was aware of the manipulation too, but obviously couldn’t get his mind off the many good points 2D had made. He looked between 2D and Russel, perhaps considering some kind of plot. Seeing how uncomfortable Russel was in the situation, however, seemed to change his mind. He gave a single, sharp nod in Russel’s direction and hopped down from his bed. After a quick trip to the fridge to grab a beer, he plopped down in the driver’s seat of the camper and strapped in.

“Let’s go pick your shit up. Where’s your place?”

The drive only took ten minutes and when they arrived and got out of the car, they ended up just standing outside the building. It was falling apart, graffiti covering most of the brick, stairs crumbling to the point of being almost useless, some of the windows were being held together by duct tape.

“This is your place? Mate, good thing I agreed to let you stay because there is no place cheaper than this.” Murdoc continued to look around, his disgust growing with each new discovery.

“It’s really not that bad, man.” Of course, that was the exact moment that one of the neighbors decided to throw an empty wine bottle out a window, shattering the pane. Glass rained down on the group, 2D took cover behind Russel, Russel spun around so the glass might only hit is back. Murdoc just glared up at the window and moved a single step to the right, the bottle smashing into the pavement in the spot he had been standing at a second before. A few unintelligible shouts came from the apartment before another bottle flew through the air. 2D didn’t stick around to gamble with his life and made a dash for the door, Russel running to follow him inside. Murdoc lagged behind, back hunched over, muttering about how crappy the building was. This muttering turned into a full-on tantrum when he discovered that the building didn’t have an elevator and Russel lived on the fourth floor.

“This place is shit, mate! The Winne is ten times better than this hell hole, and let me tell you, I’ve lived in a few hell holes. This one has them all beat. Bet you money we could find black mold and asbestos if we put in five minutes to look for them. You’re lucky we’re taking you in.” Murdoc continued to complain about Russel’s soon to be previous living conditions for the entire hike up the stairs. By the time they reached the top, even the rather patient 2D looked about ready to strangle Murdoc.

“Muds, let’s just pack Russel up and get out of here as fast as possible, ok? Then we can get something to eat and take it easy for the rest of the day. Just have to grab his stuff first.” Russel took that as his cue to open the door. The group stepped into the one room apartment and began to examine the situation. Russel didn’t have much that wasn’t related to music. The only things that he had that were valuable were his sound boards, his DJing equipment, and his drum kit. Everything else was either from second hand shops or salvaged from junk yards. Now that he looked around, he really only wanted to keep his music equipment and some clothes. Not much else was worth the effort to drag down the stairs. With this in mind, he turned back to Murdoc and 2D who seemed to be giving each other a look. They noticed Russel staring at them and turned to him, their expressions solemn. 

“Russel, you’re apartment’s shit.”

“Really, 2D? You too?”

“Well, Murdoc’s right. It’s shit and I’m glad you’re moving out. It’s not safe, it smells bad in the hallway, I think I saw something that might have been a rat but was as big as a dog, and it’s all just terrible. Let’s move fast so we can get out of here.” Russel didn’t see a point in defending the place and instead started to give instructions. They didn’t bother with the furniture, choosing to leave it for the landlord or the next renter to deal with. They packed Russel’s clothes, tools for taxidermy, and kitchen supplies into a single large suitcase, rolled up the cheap mattress pad for Russel to sleep on in the camper, then began to carefully move the music equipment down stairs.  This took the most time as they all agreed that the equipment was too valuable to just fling around. Even with all the time dedicated to taking care of Russel’s instruments, it didn’t take more than half the day to finish packing him out. They gave the apartment one last check, Russel turned over the keys to the still angry Mr. Gettle, and they left the building behind them.

\---------------

It was only when they were all getting ready for bed, around two in the morning, that Russel realized he had forgotten to warn his band members about Del. They had spent the rest of the day relaxing. After they finished moving Russel in, they found a pub for lunch. The place was packed, apparently there was a soccer match going down between two popular teams, but the group was able to find a place to sit. They each got a plate of greasy fish and chips and eventually joined in with the crowd, screaming at the tv, cursing out the rep, just enjoying the atmosphere. When the game was over they stayed to drink with some of the fans. Before Russel had known what hit him the entire day was gone, and they were back in the camper getting ready for bed. 

2D was already lying in the leaned back passenger seat and Murdoc was sitting on the edge of his bed, finishing off his last smoke of the night. Russel knew he had to act fast if he wanted to avoid the other band members getting a shock.

“Before I go to sleep I need to warn you both about something.”

“What, do you snore?” Murdoc snickered to himself and put out his cigarette.

“No, but it wouldn’t matter if I did. At night-”

“Do you sleep talk? Because 2D does that too. He has entire conversations with the window and the driver’s seat.” Murdoc seemed to be in a rather chatty mood but 2D’s eyes were blinking closed, threatening to stay that way each passing second. Russel knew this was his last chance.

“You both need to listen. When I go to sleep-”

“Mate, we don’t care that you sleep walk or talk or whatever. I could throw 2D out a window and he wouldn’t wake up and I don’t sleep much anyways. You won’t be bothering either of us so just go to sleep.” Murdoc ended his speech by lying down and turning his back to Russel.

“Fine, don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.”

“Go to sleep, Russel.”

Russel resisted the urge to throw something at Murdoc. Oh well, Russel thought to himself, he tried to warn them. On that final thought, Russel laid down and closed his eyes, ready to be woken by his bandmates screams.

Not two minutes later, Murdoc heard an unearthly moan. It was the kind of sound that caused a person’s temperature to drop, the kind of sound that had animals running in all directions to escape. And it was coming from Russel’s mattress pad on the floor.

“2D,” Murdoc whispered into the darkness. He didn’t get a response.

“2D.” This time he tried a little louder.

“You know, it’s not nice to ignore people. Didn’t your mamma ever teach you manners?”

Murdoc didn’t move. He always liked to play tough, act like he wasn’t scared. After all, he had met the devil. There wasn’t much in the world that should scare him after that. However, hearing a voice that didn’t belong to himself or his two other band members in the Winnebago in the middle of the night scared the shit out of him.

Slowly, so as not to startle whoever was behind him, Murdoc turned over. There, sitting on the floor by Russel’s head, was a ghost. That was the only way to explain the fact that he was blue and translucent.

It took all that Murdoc had to meet the ghost’s eyes. They were entirely white, just like Russel’s.

“You’re a ghost.”

The ghost grinned. “Sure looks that way, don’t it?”

“You’re a ghost?”

“You know, Russ tried to tell you about me. You were being an ass though, or else you would know that I’m Russ’ best friend Del.”

“You’re a ghost.”

“Man, you said that already. You ok? Did I turn your brain off or something? Used to do that to the ladies all the time, but never had a guy that awestruck by me. I’m flattered though, and even kind of interested, but as you’ve said before, about fifty times, I’m a ghost, so it’s sadly not going to happen.”

“You should be so lucky.”

Del smiled. “Glad to see I didn’t break you. Can’t have the bass player of Russ’ band going mute. How would we hear all those nasty opinions of yours if you suddenly couldn’t speak?”

“It’s my band, and how do you know my opinions are nasty? I think they’re fantastic.”

“I can hear and see everything that Russ can. When he goes to sleep, I’m released from his body and can wander around. Doesn’t really make much of a difference though. Can’t talk to my best friend. Can’t jam with him. Not much of a point if you can’t even talk to the people you care about. This is a nice change though. Tried to talk to Russ’ mom and she freaked. That’s why he’s over here, by the way. They shipped him off. Shitheads. Russ deserves better.”

Murdoc had chosen to ignore everything that the man said apart from a few key words. “You and Russel used to jam? What did you play?”

“Wow, you really have a one-track mind sometimes, don’t you? I don’t play anything. I rap. Taught Russ everything he knows about hip-hop too, so you can thank me when he makes you all famous.”

“Huh. You know what? There’s this song we’ve been working on, but I knew there was something missing. Set it aside a few days ago, no point in working on a song if you don’t know what it needs, but now that I think about it, rap is what it needs.” Murdoc climbed out of his bed and wandered through the RV, careful not to step on Russel as he walked. The paper titled “Clint Eastwood” was hanging just beyond 2D on the dash board but with all of 2D’s belongings in the way, Murdoc couldn’t reach it. Murdoc made a snap decision to reach over 2D to try and snag it only to end up falling on top of him. 2D woke up flailing and both of them went tumbling to the floor.

“2D, be quiet! We can’t wake Russel up!”

“What? Why? What’s going on?” Above 2D’s now quiet panicking, Murdoc could hear laughter. Del was doubled over, the brim of his cap almost touching the floor. “Um, Murdoc. Who is that?”

“2D, that’s Del. Del, 2D. Now move so I can grab “Clint Eastwood.” Del is going to help us finish it.”

“Oh, ok. How?”

“He can rap.” Murdoc finally managed to grab the song and rushed back over to Del. He wasn’t sure how long Russel would sleep, so their time was limited.

“You’ve already heard the song, right?”

Del read over the pages. “Yeah, I remember this one. It’s real good. Got a lot of potential.”

It only took a few minutes for 2D to warm up to Del and before long, they had written out the rap portion of “Clint Eastwood” and had started the rap to another song that previously just had a bass line written. Del dubbed this song “Rock the House.”

By the time they had accomplished this, however, the sun was up, and Russel began to stir. The second his eyes opened Del went flying back into his head. The larger man sat up, took one look at Murdoc and 2D sitting on the floor surrounded by papers, and immediately figured out what happened.

“I tried to tell you.”

Murdoc shot up to his feet like he hadn’t been sitting for the past few hours. “I don’t care. I can deal with the fact that you have a ghost in your head and didn’t tell us. But you just so happened to leave out the fact that this ghost can rap? Do you realize how much we needed him?”

“Not like you were willing to listen.”

“Yeah, well. Shut up. I’m going to bed. Got “Clint Eastwood” finished by the way. You’re welcome.” Murdoc climbed into his bed and pulled the curtains shut as violently as he could manage. 2D stayed where he was, curled up on the floor, with his chin resting on his knees, his arms wrapped around his legs.

“You alright 2D?”

“Just thinking about if I have a ghost in my head. How would I know?”

“I’d tell you 2D.”

“So, I don’t have a ghost in my head?”

“Nope, you’re ghost free.”

“Thanks Russ.” With that off his mind 2D seemed to decide that he needed to sleep as well. He, however, didn’t get back into his bed. Instead he flopped over, closed his eyes, and was asleep only seconds later.

Russel stared into the shadowy RV, listening to Murdoc’s nasally snoring and 2D’s wispy breaths. “Well Del, looks like you made a good first impression.”

\---------------

The day had been rather quiet for the band. 2D announced that he was going to visit his mom and dad for most of the day and wouldn’t be back until much later. He hadn’t even eaten breakfast before practically skipping out of the camper and into his mom’s waiting car. The tension he left behind was palpable. Murdoc sat on his bed with his legs hanging off the edge, a long-sleeved sweater on but no pants. Russel had stowed his mattress and was sitting on the couch. Neither one knew what to say, having never had time alone together.

“So… got any plans for today?” Russel spoke first, figuring that he needed to get comfortable with the aggressive man eventually.

Murdoc glared at Russel, his expression quickly turning bitter. “Think I’ll start drinking now.”

“It’s not even 10 yet.”

“And?” Murdoc stood, ready to fight.

“Listen man, we need to talk. I can’t say I know you well, but you don’t seem very stable. You ever thought about therapy?”

“Therapy? Why the fuck would I do something like that?”

“It might help you figure some shit out? Might not get mad at 2D so easily. Might make you feel better. Just a few reasons.”

“I feel fine. Don’t need some nut case telling me how to not be a nut case.” Each word was accented by flailing arms that had Russel leaning away to avoid being hit.

“Therapists aren’t nut cases. They are trained professionals who have learned how to help people get through negative experiences.”

“I don’t give a flying fuck. They’re scammers and I’m not going to one.”

Finally, Russel had reached the end of his rope. He stood up, using the extra inch he had to tower over Murdoc. The other man quick backed himself into a corner but Russel followed, making sure to get in his face and force him to pay attention. “Listen close. I’m not doing anything with this band until you agree to get some therapy. You need it. I know you think you enjoy being a shithead, but I can see through your tough guy act. You’re scared, you don’t know what you’re doing, and you don’t want to fail. But you know what?” Russel pauses only to jab Murdoc in the forehead, forcing him to look up into Russel’s eyes.

“You’re not alone anymore. 2D is here, I’m here. You don’t have to struggle alone. You can talk to us. You can tell us if something is making you uncomfortable instead of getting mad. You can ask us to be quiet if we get too loud instead of biting out heads off then storming out. You can even ask us for a hug if you need one. Understand me?” His reply is the smallest of nods, barely a twitch really, but Russel wasn’t going to ask for more.

“Good. I know it’s terrifying to open up to people, but it helps. And going to a therapist will help too. We don’t have the money to get you one now which is probably for the best. It will give you some time to get used to the idea of talking to someone about your feelings.” Murdoc cringed but stayed silent.

“Yeah, I know how it sounds but it’s going to happen, and it will help.”

Russel took a single step back, and the two fell back into their uncomfortable silence, no really knowing what to say. Murdoc leaned back against the cabinets behind him, his head down and eyes firmly locked on the floor.

“Um. Russel. Russ. I don’t know – I’m not sure there’s any hope for me. It’s been a long time, my entire childhood was fucked up, then I left home and fucked over the rest of my life. I just don’t think there’s any coming back from that.”

“Wow, thought you were supposed to be smart. Anyone can heal Murdoc, that includes you. And 2D and I will be there to help however we can.” Again, the room went dead quiet and stayed that way for a few minutes.

“Hm. Right then. Think I’ll just go out for a smoke. If you’d just-” Murdoc pushed past Russel, grabbing his cigarettes as he went.

Just before he left the camper he turned slightly, giving Russel a side eyed glance. “Hey, Russ.”

“Yeah Muds?”

“Thanks.” Before Russel could say a word, Murdoc marched out of the RV, letting the door slam shut behind him. Despite the violent exit, Russel couldn’t help but feel that the morning had been rather productive.

\---------------

Russel hadn’t really noticed the problem until he started cleaning up the camper and found stashes of empty pill bottles. It had been weeks since moving in and they had all learned how to work with each other and live together as best they could. When they weren’t writing songs or practicing, the band members usually tried to avoid each other. 2D often got picked up by his parents or friends, Russel choose to explore the city and take up small, quick jobs to pass the time and bring in some money. Murdoc tended to sleep in and slink back into the RV late at night, or early in the morning, when only Del was around. According to the letters Del left him, Russel knew that he and Murdoc didn’t interact much apart from a nod when Murdoc entered the camper and another nod right before he went to sleep.

After all this time, however, Russel was beginning to think that he should have paid more attention to his bandmates. One of them had a problem, if the piles of pill bottles were anything to go by. It was about mid-day when Russel finally realized that the problem even existed, so he had some time to think of how to approach his two roommates. He knew that 2D was on a strong pain medication after his accident, but with the way Murdoc was Russel wouldn’t be surprised if he was popping pills to take the edge off. His drinking habit alone would suggest an addictive personality and if he ever tried pain pills… Well, Russel knew pain was hard, and an easy fix was right up Murdoc’s alley.

Just when Russel was beginning to formulate a plan on how to approach his bandmates, Murdoc came storming into the RV, dripping wet and looking pissed. He huffed his way past Russel, not even bothering to look at him, and made his way to his bed. Murdoc then yanked the mattress up, pulled a sword out from underneath, and turned, ready to head back out the door. Before he could, Russel stepped in front of him, blocking his path. While he knew that talking to Murdoc while the other man was holding a weapon was probably a bad idea, Russel didn’t know when he would see Murdoc again. Not only that, but the man seemed relatively sober, which was a rare occurrence.

“Murdoc, we need to talk.”

“Mate, again? We talked about this already. I’ll go to therapy when we get some steady gigs and a place to live. Happy?” Russel didn’t remember Murdoc promising to go to therapy, but he wasn’t about to start complaining about Murdoc’s acceptance of the idea.

“Yes, but that’s not what I wanted to talk about. I’m going to ask you a question and you need to promise not to stab me with that sword.”

“Russel, we’re not five. What do you want?”

Russel decided to cut right to the chase. “You been taking pain pills? Lots of them? There are bottles all over the place and they have to have come from one of us.”

“Yeah, they’re 2D’s.”

“Wait, you know about this?”

“Russel, I’ve been living with the twerp for fucking months now. He got hurt right before he moved in. I was there. You think I didn’t see him pop a pill or fifty? Think he probably had a problem before the car accident. He told me about falling out of a tree when he was a kid and that’s why his hair’s blue. Had the addiction already and it just got worse after the dents and eyes and shit.”

“If you knew why haven’t you done anything? Gotten him some help? He can’t take that many pills, he’ll overdose!”

“He’s not going to overdose. Calm down.”

“And why do you say that?”

“Because I’ve been fixing his pills. Cut the dosage down in some, replacing the rest with sugar pills.”

“That’s a dick move and also not helping. Why do you think he’s been taking more and more? Because he’s not getting the same result from the pills as before and has been popping more to try and get rid of the pain.”

“Russel, it’s fine. Nothing’s going to happen.”

It was at that exact moment Murdoc’s phone rang. He flipped it open, demanded to know who was calling, listened for less than a minute, and hung up. He then put his sword back where it came from and moved to the front of the camper. When Russel saw him strapping into the driver’s seat, he sat down in the passenger seat and buckled up as well.

“So, you going to tell me where we’re headed?”

“Hospital. That was 2D’s mom who just called. She said he overdosed and that we need to get to there now.”

Russel didn’t dare speak as they tore out of the parking lot at a neck breaking speed. The RV was quiet on the drive, nothing needed to be said. They both needed to see 2D and fix the problem as soon as possible. Nothing else was as important as making sure he was ok.

\---------------

When they got to the hospital a well put together woman, who had to be 2D’s mother, rushed them and immediately began to explain everything that had happened.

Apparently, 2D had gone to visit his parents for the day, but then told them he needed some time alone. They bought it because of his living situation, but his mom decided around lunch time that he should come out of his room to have a meal and catch up with his parents. When she went to get him, however, she found the door locked and he didn’t respond to her calls to open it. Apparently, this was enough to worry Mrs. Pot and within minutes she had broken in, only to find 2D unconscious on the floor. She acted fast, getting him into the recovery position while screaming at her husband to call 999. The ambulance arrived quickly, announced that 2D had likely overdosed on pain medication, and whisked him away. Russel was surprised to hear that Mrs. Pot hadn’t ridden with them, but she explained that she wanted to stay behind to try and find the pills he was taking. She only ended up finding an empty, unmarked bottle, exactly like the ones that were slowly filling the RV. Her husband stayed behind to search the rest of the house for any kind of stash and she had gone to the hospital to wait for news about her son’s condition.

After listening to Mrs. Pot’s story, Russel and Murdoc stood in silence. Neither one knew what to do with the information that 2D obviously had a more serious problem than either one could imagine.

“The doctor told me that we would be here a while. They need to run tests to find out what he took, try to evaluate the damage. I told them what was prescribed to him, but they said he might be taking something stronger. I just never thought this could happen. He’s always had a low pain tolerance, but I never thought it would come to this. He’s had migraines before and the prescribed medications always helped. Why would he do this?”

At this point, Mrs. Pot was holding her hand over her face, trying to hide her tears. Russel fully expected Murdoc to jump on board and blame her but instead Murdoc decided to shock him.

“It’s my fault, Mrs. Pot. I knew he was abusing his meds, and I didn’t act on it like I should have. I wanted to come up with an easy solution that didn’t require me to step up and talk to him about it. Maybe if I had we wouldn’t be here today. I’m sorry.” The woman sniffled and lowered her hand. Murdoc flinched back, almost like he was expecting to be hit, but instead Mrs. Pot just reached for his hand and squeezed it tightly.

“It’s alright dear. I noticed something was wrong after that car accident, but I didn’t say anything. I should have known something was bothering him, but I wanted my boy to be happy. I didn’t want to intrude when he’s out making his own life.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong. You’re a good Mum and 2D knows that.” She smiled slightly at this and the group finally sat down, settling in for the long wait. Mrs. Pot continued to sniffle and dabbed gently at her eyes once in a while with one hand, but she didn’t let go of Murdoc’s hand with the other. He didn’t seem interested in letting go of hers either, they both needed the support. When Russel finally decided he needed some support too he fully expected Murdoc to attack him, but the hand that Russel placed on Murdoc’s knee was ignored. They sat there, taking comfort in each other for over two hours, until finally the doctor stepped out and called for Mrs. Pot. She jumped up, startling both Russel and Murdoc from their stupor, and ran over to him. The other two moved to follow her but the doctor stopped them, saying only family would be allowed back. Mrs. Pot looked ready to argue but Murdoc just held his hand up, signaling to her to stop.

“Just go check on 2D.” He then walked away, not giving her a chance to comment. She didn’t bother to chase after him and followed the doctor further into the ER.

Russel made his way back to the waiting room where Murdoc found a quiet corner to have a meltdown. His head was in his hands, his elbows digging into his thighs. He seemed to be almost clicking, but Russel didn’t think the noise was coming from his mouth because of the single, drawn out moan he had been letting out. When Russel sat down next to Murdoc, the other man began to shiver slightly, but it quickly built up to a full body shaking that was so violent it almost looked like he might start falling apart.

Without thinking, Russel scoped Murdoc out of his chair and dragged the other man into his lap. Russel wrapped his arms tightly around Murdoc and began to gently rock the man back and forth. Murdoc struggled for a moment, shouting a few nasty words, then almost seemed to deflate, the will to fight leaving him in only a few seconds. Russel wasn’t surprised when Murdoc began to cry into his shirt, hiding his face in the larger man’s chest.

It would seem romantic to some, likely the other people in the ER thought they were a couple, but Russel couldn’t help but picture Murdoc like a hurt child. He remembered cradling Del’s little sisters when someone pushed them on the playground or bullied them at school. This was only slightly different because Del’s sisters usually wouldn’t dig their nails into his arm and mutter about not needing help, about how stupid Russel was for thinking this was ok, about not crying because of 2D but rather because he hated hospitals that much. Russel knew that Murdoc, although he didn’t want to admit it, was worried about 2D. They had been living together long enough to become friends, and from what Russel could tell, Murdoc didn’t have many of those. He would even go so as far as to say that 2D was Murdoc’s only friend. And when your only friend ends up in the hospital for a problem that possibly could have been avoided, it wasn’t surprising to have such a serious reaction.

They ended up sitting like that for half an hour, not moving an inch until Mrs. Pot finally returned to the waiting room. Murdoc launched himself off of Russel’s lap the instant he saw her, berating Russel for being a pervert and threatening to call the cops. Russel simply chose to ignore all this and instead stood to greet Mrs. Pot.

“We didn’t get to talk earlier ma’am, but my name is Russel Hobbs. I’m 2D’s bandmate. Can you tell us anything about his condition?”

“It’s nice to meet you Mr. Hobbs. I wish the circumstances were better. Stuart is in recovery right now. He still hasn’t woken up, and they don’t expect him to until tomorrow. They… they had to pump his stomach. They told me to come back tomorrow, but I don’t feel comfortable leaving yet. If there is an update I need to know about it.”

Murdoc’s face turned thoughtful. “Mrs. Pot, why don’t you go rest up in the Winnebago. We’ll wait inside for any news. Ok?”

“No, I should-” But Murdoc wouldn’t let her finish. He gently maneuvered her toward the door, shouting over his shoulder for Russel to stay behind. Russel just nodded and got comfortable, ready for the long haul.

\---------------

They were told they wouldn’t get to see 2D until the next day. Mrs. Pot had been given permission to visit for a few hours after her short rest, but Russel and Murdoc were again denied access to the room. The second time around Mrs. Pot put up more of a fight but the nurse who had been talking to her didn’t budge. She finally gave up and went back to visit 2D, promising to return later with an update. Mr. Pot arrived shortly after Mrs. Pot was allowed back, and he was also ushered to the singer’s room, leaving Murdoc and Russel to wait. At first they took shifts, with one person resting and one person keeping watch, but around seven at night, Russel decided to give up on this method and dragged Murdoc to the hospital cafeteria for dinner. After spending half of the day anxiously waiting in a lobby that seemed designed to be as uncomfortable as possible, Murdoc was too emotionally exhausted to argue.

When they arrived, Russel plopped Murdoc down at a table and got food for both of them. Between sitting down and Russel’s return, Murdoc had slumped over, with his head on the table and both arms hanging by his sides.

“Come on, man. You’ll feel better after you eat.”

“We’ve been waiting all day. What in bloody hell could be taking so long?”

“She’s just spending some time with 2D. Probably talking with the doctor too. She hasn’t forgotten we’re here, she just needs to make sure her son is ok first.” The only response Russel got was a groan. Murdoc didn’t bother sitting up.

“Listen, how about you eat something, and we can try to sneak back once you’re finished.”

Murdoc finally sat up. “Russel, sneaking back? Wouldn’t that be breaking a rule? Can’t have such a goody two shoes like yourself breaking a rule. Might get in trouble.”

“You think I’m a goody two shoes?”

“Well, none of the criminals I know want to get me into therapy.”

“You need therapy, you’ve already agreed, and yes I think we should sneak back because I’m tired of waiting, just like you are. Eat something, then we head in and find 2D.”

The plan seemed to be enough to motivate Murdoc into action. He shoveled food quickly into his mouth then squirmed in his seat as he waited for Russel to finish eating.  The second Russel took his last bite Murdoc was up out of his chair, practically running for the lobby they had been sitting in previously. Russel cleaned up as fast as he could and scrambled after him.

“Alright, here’s what’s going to happen. We need to distract the staffers. I’m thinking I tip over one of those people in a wheelchair. Then I start screaming for help and when everyone crowds around we walk right in.”

“Muds, that’s a stupid idea. Listen, let’s just be patient. Something distracting is bound to happen.”

Neither one of them was happy to wait, but they didn’t sit around long. An angry, rather drunk man with a broken arm came stumbling into the ER, demanding the attention of everyone in the area. Murdoc saw this and yanked Russel though the double doors into the hospital.

“Right, now we just got to find 2D.”

“And how are we supposed to do that? Not like wandering around will help us. This place is huge.”

“Come on. I’ve got an idea.” Murdoc led them into the elevator where they went up three floors and got off. He then walked down the hallway, passing patient rooms until he found a nurse’s station. He turned to Russel, winked, then wandered over to the nurse manning the desk.

“Um, excuse me? I think we’re a little lost. We were looking for a bathroom but now we can’t find our way back.”

Russel expected the nurse to take one look at Murdoc and tell him to fuck off or possibly call security, but instead something amazing happened. She glanced up, saw Murdoc’s smiling face, and turned away, blushing.

“Oh, of course! What’s the name of the patient?”

“Stuart Pot.” She typed the name into her computer, wrote something down on a piece of paper then handed it to Murdoc. The entire time Murdoc chatted her up, telling her how kind she was, how grateful he was, how helpful her efforts were. When she finished he leaned over the desk and thanked her profusely, which caused the woman’s face to turn cherry red. Once their exchange was over Murdoc sauntered back to Russel, waving the paper in his face.

“Wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Did you hypnotize her or something?”

“Excuse me? I would never. Just made sure she knew that helping me out would be greatly appreciated.”

“Whatever you say. So long as we know where 2D is.” They followed the instructions given to a room in the recovery ward. When they burst into the room they found 2D lying in bed asleep, his mother lying next to him dosing off. Her husband was sitting in a chair near the bed, looking groggy. Their entrance was loud enough to rouse him, and he moved to greet them at the door.

“Mr. Niccals wasn’t it? Good to see you again.”

“Mr. Pot. Been waiting in the lobby for hours. Any updates?”

“Stuart is still unconscious. They said he’ll wake up sometime tomorrow. He’s stable though, so that’s good. They don’t think there will be any negative effects from the medication. You might as well head out for now.”

“Sir, with all due respect, we’re not going anywhere.”

\---------------

Murdoc spent a few hours pacing the room before Russel finally grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him down into a chair. Once he was sitting, exhaustion must have taken over because he woke up the next morning in the hospital room with just Russel and 2D. The singer was still asleep, but Russel seemed to be awake. The drummer was staring at the wall like it held the answers to life.

“Muds, we can’t afford rehab. We need to help him, but we can’t do it in the traditional ways.” Russel’s voice was monotone, he didn’t look away from the wall.

“There are other things we can do for him, Russ. We can do something to help him.”

“Like what?”

“We can…” Murdoc couldn’t continue his sentence because he honestly didn’t know what to do. 2D had overdosed. There was no sugar coating it. They couldn’t take away his medication, he needed it to combat the pain. They also couldn’t just let him keep taking however much he wanted. “Maybe one of us can take responsibility for his meds. Someone could hold onto the bottle for him, dole it out as needed, not let him take more than he should.”

Russel finally turned to look at Murdoc. His eyes were blood shot and puffy. It was a strange sight, with Russel lacking pupils and irises. “Do you really think that would work? He could just go out and buy more illegally. He could get around us so easily.”

“But we know now. We can stop him, I can tell the local dealers to back off if they see a blue haired kid walking their way. We have to try Russ.”

A heaving sigh was Murdoc’s only reply and for a long moment he thought Russel would just stand up and walk out, leave the band and their drama for good. Instead, Russel got up, walked over to stand next to Murdoc where he was still sitting in his chair, and placed a large hand over his shoulder. He squeezed it tightly for a moment, then sat down in a chair beside Murdoc.

“Alright. We’ll try your plan. It certainly can’t hurt.”

“Good. Now who will be the one in charge of his meds? I don’t know if I would do a good job, but I understand if you don’t want to. Not like you know us very well yet. It’s a lot of responsibility, doing that for another person.”

“No, I’ll do it. I’m already committed to the band, might as well do my part to help.”

“Thanks, Russ.”

“No problem man.”

\---------------

It was almost noon when 2D finally woke up. Mr. and Mrs. Pot had been in and out the entire day, but Murdoc had gotten irritated with their constant worrying and sent them to get lunch from the cafeteria. He and Russel stayed behind to keep an eye on 2D.

They were playing a game of gin rummy when a low groan came from the hospital bed. Both men shot up, flinging the cards aside as they went, and ran to 2D’s bed side. When they got there, however, neither one knew what to do. They could hold his hands, comfort him and offer support, or be strict and explain where he had gone wrong. In the end Russel and Murdoc just froze a few feet from the bed, completely unsure of how to handle the situation.

2D turned to stare at them. They stared back. “Muds. Russ. I think – I think I might have made a mistake.” Murdoc didn’t move, but Russel sat down in a chair by 2D’s bedside at patted his arm.

“Yeah, you fucked up this time 2D.”

“I didn’t mean to. I just. Sometimes it hurts too much, and I just can’t stand it anymore. I didn’t want to… do that. But I just couldn’t stand the pain anymore. I’m sorry this happened. I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

The drummer signed. “I know you didn’t. Muds and I are going to help you so this doesn’t happen again.”

“How?”

Finally Murdoc decided to join the conversation. “We are going to help you regulate your pills. No more self-dosing. Russ here is gonna become your pill provider. He’ll give you your meds when you need them, not when you want them. Make sure you don’t go overboard.”

2D seemed resigned to the plan and just nodded along as Murdoc spoke. Nobody liked the plan, everyone in the room knew it probably won’t work, but under the circumstances it was the best they could do. 

\---------------

That evening 2D was released from the hospital but he didn’t go back with Murdoc and Russel right away. His mother wanted to spend time with him and declared as the group were leaving that 2D would be staying home for the next day or two. She didn’t leave room for arguing as she dragged him away, but the rest of the band weren’t bothered by this. It gave them time to prepare.

Murdoc and Russel walked back to the Winnebago in silence. The drive back to the abandoned lot was equally quiet. When they arrived both men started to dig through the camper, hunting down pill bottles. This took most of the night. When they finally decided to go to sleep, Del was released and began to double check their work, using his lack of physical form as an advantage, looking into places that Murdoc and Russel couldn’t reach. By morning he found a few more bottles which he left on the kitchen counter with a note that read “Take care of the kid. He’s too good to lose.”

With those words in mind Russel and Murdoc began to prepare for 2D’s return. They spent the morning shopping for a safe to store his medication in. Once they found one they both agreed would be too difficult to break into they placed the single bottle of prescribed medication into it and locked it tight. All the other bottles were disposed of by Russel, who didn’t quite trust Murdoc enough to not sell the drugs to a local thug.

By the time they both agreed they were ready for 2D to return the day was drawing to a close and a light knocking came from the door. Murdoc opened it to reveal 2D, who was looking at the ground and shifting his weight from foot to foot.

“Um. Hi.”

“Thought you were staying with your parents for a few days.”

“Things at home are. They’re weird. Mom won’t stop hovering over me and Dad just keeps staring at me. It was… uncomfortable.” Murdoc almost rolled his eyes. He doubted things would be any better in the Winnebago, but he opened the door wide for 2D to come inside.

When Russel saw 2D he stood up and made a move to hug 2D but stopped with his arms half way up. He then stepped back, put his arms down, and glanced away.

“Hey 2D.”

“Hi Russel.”

“Well, it’s late. We should all go to sleep.” At Russel’s words Murdoc glanced at the clock. It was barely nine at night.

“Yeah, good idea. I’ll just. Go to bed.” 2D scurried to the front of the Winnebago, got changed as quickly as he could, and was laying down to go to sleep before Murdoc had a chance to point out the time. Russel was nearly just as fast to get to bed. For a moment Murdoc considered just giving up and turning in as well but he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep in the tension that had filled the Winnebago, so he grabbed his wallet and a pack of cigarettes and walked out the door, not planning on returning to the Winnebago until the next day.

\---------------

Murdoc finally came back the next morning, only to find that the atmosphere in the Winnebago was worse than before. Both of his band members were awake and seemed to be creeping around each other as they tried to make breakfast, practically jumping out of the way of the other if they got too close. It instantly irritated Murdoc, he didn’t like walking on egg shells around people. He found it was easier to just smash the egg shells.

“Let’s do something today. Get out of the lot for a while.” 2D didn’t even bother looking up to reply but Russel’s eyes were wide.

“Muds, I don’t think that’s the best idea. We’ve all had a stressful few days, maybe we should just stay in? Relax a bit?”

“Well I’m certainly not relaxing like this. How about we go to that mini golf course that 2D is always mooning over. We could play a few games, get out in the fresh air, hit a few balls.” His last statement has Murdoc dissolving into a cackling laugh, that has Russel staring at him like he’s gone crazy and 2D giving a shy smile.

“I’ve always wanted to go mini golfing, but I figured no one would want to go with me.”

“Today’s your lucky day then Dents because I can’t take another moment sitting around in the Winne. Russel, if your out you better leave now.” It took a minute, but Russel finally shook his head and sat down ready for Murdoc to drive away.

“Prefect.

The drive took twenty minutes, and in that time 2D had grown more and more excited. By the time they reached the mini golf course he was practically bouncing in his seat. He didn’t even wait for Murdoc to stop the Winnebago before jumping out of the vehicle and running towards the gift shop and pay desk. The other two followed behind after parking the camper.

“You sure this is a good idea Murdoc? 2D has been under enough stress recently, he should be resting.”

“Russ, he rested all of yesterday. He’s a 19-year-old kid, right? Let’s just let him be 19 and have some fun. He needs a little distraction. We don’t need to remind him what happened, he’s going to remember every time he’s in pain and needs you to give him his meds. Besides, it’s mini golf. What about that isn’t relaxing?”

Before Russel could reply 2D came running out of the gift shop. “Murdoc, Russel, I found the best thing in the world, come on!” He dragged them inside and over to a small clothes section. He then grabbed two sets of clothes and handed one to each of the men. “We need to look like golfers, so I found these for us to wear! Go change!” Neither had a chance to even look at the clothes before they were shoved into a changing room. It didn’t take long from the protests to start pouring in though.

“2D, I’m not wearing this.”

“Russel, just change! We’ll all be wearing golf clothes, so you won’t stand out.”

“No, we will just stand out as a group.” Despite the grumbling 2D could hear the rustling of clothing in both stalls.

Murdoc’s door slammed open suddenly and he strutted out of the room wearing a tight pair of leopard print pants and a green, red, and pink paisley patterned shirt.

“I know you were trying to sabotage me 2D, but it backfired. I make this look sexy.” Murdoc began admiring himself in a nearby mirror and was still distracted when Russel came out of his changing room. The other man had on a pair of black, orange, and yellow plaid pants with a much kinder purple polo and yellow vest.

“Dee. Why are you doing this to us?”

“It’s part of the fun! Now let me change and we can all head out.” He then rushed into an empty changing room, not giving Russel a chance to see what he was holding for himself. The slam of the door finally distracted Murdoc. He looked up to see Russel and didn’t bother to hide his laughter.

“You better be right about this cheering up 2D, because the humiliation isn’t worth it otherwise.”

“Calm down Russ. You look hot.” The fact that this was said between wheezing breaths and giggles didn’t comfort Russel.

They continued bickering back and forth for a few minutes before someone cleared their throat. 2D was standing proudly in the doorway of the changing room wearing a pair of black shorts covered in rainbow polka dots and a pink, blue, and orange argyle print polo. His socks were pulled up to his knees and he had on a pair of white gloves.

“Alright. We’re ready to go.” 2D took the lead while Murdoc followed close behind him cackling. Russel fell behind with his head hanging low and a slight blush on his cheeks.

The woman at the front desk took one look at them and was barely able to contain herself. She used a hand to cover her mouth, but nothing could hide the laughter in her eyes.

“Hello, Miss! We would like to play a game of mini golf!”

“Yes, of course. Three people for the full 18 holes?” Murdoc could be heard snickering in the background at her mention of 18 holes.

2D chose to ignore him. “Yes. And we’ll need to pay for our clothes. We’ll be wearing them out, if that’s ok.” This started another round of giggling, but she did a good job of hiding it as she rung them up and processed their payment.

“Will that be all for today?”

“Yep, that’s it! Thank you!” They left the front desk and walked out to the course after collecting their putters. The course was set up in different styles, so that every three holes you encountered a new terrain. It started with in a pirate themed area, complete with giant fake pirate ship and half buried treasure marked with an x.

“This is my kind of area. My people the pirates were, scallywags and criminals. Yes, I would have made a good pirate.” Murdoc continued his speech as he played through the first hole. It came as a shock to everyone when he got a hole in one.

“How did you do that?”

“Pure talent 2D. Pure talent. You’re up.” 2D and Russel took turns, Russel seemingly trying to golf as fast as possible but in doing so he ended up making mistakes and prolonging his embarrassment. They finished up the first hole and worked their way through the next eight without too much fuss. Along the way the group found themselves loosening up and cracking jokes.

The trouble started when they reached the jungle course. Murdoc was obviously going to win the game, but 2D and Russel proved to be rather poor mini golf players. Each of them took at least few strokes to sink the ball, and because of this, the game was dragging on for Murdoc. He had already eaten three snow cones, popped the balloon of a kid passing by, and tripped the manager of the course. None of this, however, kept the boredom away for long and he found himself imagining new ways to distract himself. Then, because he had no self-control, he was suddenly acting out on these thoughts.

Before 2D or Russel could stop him, Murdoc was climbing over the short railing of the green and entering the cement jungle display. He made a beeline for the giant fake gorilla, throwing out pickup lines as he approached.

“The early bird catches the worm, but girl you can show up any time and still get a bite.” 2D’s snorting laugh could be heard in a distance, but it was drowned out but Russel’s shouting.

“Murdoc get back here right now! You’re not allowed to leave the green!” Murdoc ignored Russel’s demands and instead decided on upping the ante with the gorilla.

“Hey babe, we can play zoo and you can tame my money.” At this point Murdoc had reached the gorilla and was stroking its face, rubbing his entire body against it. By the time security finally showed up Murdoc was humping the gorilla and doing his best to vocalize sounds to match.

“Sir, we’re going to have to ask you to leave.”

“And why would you do that?”

“Because we don’t condone such action here. We have rules and you’ve chosen not to follow them. Please back away from the gorilla and come with us.”

Russel practically watched it happen in slow motion. Murdoc’s eyes went wide, then wild, then he was looking at Russel and 2D with that crazed look and smiling. Their eyes met, and Russel tried to shake his head, tell Murdoc to not do anything stupid.

It obviously didn’t help because Murdoc’s smile just grew bigger.

“Run!” Murdoc launched himself out from behind the gorilla, over the short railing and shot past the guards. To Russel’s dismay 2D grabbed his hand and ran after Murdoc. They followed behind a whirlwind of chaos as Murdoc knocked over other golfers and crashed through gift stands. Behind them security was screaming at them to stop but this just pushed them forward. Somehow, they reached the exit without being caught. They didn’t stop running, however, until they were safely inside the Winnebago. Everyone was panting, Russel immediately slid to the floor in hopes of catching his breath, but 2D and Murdoc were grinning at each other.

“That was so much fun Muds! We’re probably banned from the center, but it was worth it! And your joke with the gorilla was really funny!” They walked past Russel to get to the driver and passenger seat but as they passed Murdoc gave Russel a wink. Russel thought back to their earlier conversation about relaxing. While the day had been stressful in some ways, 2D was back to laughing and smiling. The awkwardness and tension from earlier was completely gone, likely went away once they put on their ridiculous golf clothes and it certainly couldn’t survive Murdoc’s short-lived romance with the gorilla statue. As they drove back to the abandoned parking lot they called home, Russel wondered how many other problems could be solved by a simple game of mini golf between friends.

\---------------

The entire band was sitting at the kitchen table, having just finished a practice session.

“You know we are going to need a guitar player too,” 2D said, stating the obvious.

“We could just put an ad in the paper or put flyers up in music shops. Should be easy enough to find someone who can play well enough,” Murdoc replied, not bothering to look up Russel’s new taxidermy project. It used to be a small fake mouse covered in faux fur that Russel got for a discount at a thrift shop, but, from what Murdoc could tell, he was trying to add a lighter to the mouse’s mouth. It wasn’t going well, if the growing pile of discarded parts was anything to go by.

“No,” 2D said, his eyes not leaving Russel’s project either, “The guitar player needs to be special. We can’t just have some random person off the street. We need to find them.”

“We can find them using the ad. Make our lives easy.”

“No.” This time 2D looked up from the mutilated fake mouse. “We are getting someone special, Murdoc. They are going to be amazing and we can find them ourselves. Maybe we already know someone! If we already know someone who plays guitar they could join the band.”

“Well then, who do you suggest?”

“I could ask my ex-girlfriend Paula but, um, I don’t think she wants to talk to me right now.”

“Why? What happened?” Murdoc leaned forward to stare intently at 2D, expecting a good story.

“Well, she went on vacation and told me to look after her cat. But she didn’t tell me what the cat was supposed to eat.”

“Oh, did you feed him a pipet of milk then?”

“Um, no. I fed him a kinder egg.”

2D didn’t think that Murdoc needed to laugh as hard as he did. “Really? You fed him a kinder egg? I find that quite funny.”

“You would, but she broke up with me for it, so I don’t think she would want to join our band.”

“Well, if we are going to get someone special, they will come to us. No reason to force it.” Russel had finally given up on his project and joined the conversation. The poor mouse had been broken into ten or more pieces. It looked so pitiful that 2D was tempted to ask if they could have a funeral for it, even if it was fake.

“Sure Russ. And when that doesn’t happen, then we put up flyers.”

Russel rolled his eyes at Murdoc’s pessimism. “We just need to wait a little longer. Got a feeling that the right person is just around the corner.”

\---------------

“So, how’s the shrink?” Russel asks from the open window of the idling car.

“Not bad. Talked about you actually.” Russel’s mood quickly grows dark. He waits for Murdoc to climb into the car before continuing their conversation.

“Didn’t make me out to be the bad guy, did you?” Russel pulls out of the parking lot and heads back towards Kong.

“Nah. Actually talked about how we met. You come off as a perfect angel. The shrink likes you just for getting me into therapy.” Murdoc leans back, waiting for Russel to get smug. This didn’t happen though. Instead the man grows quiet.

“What? I said she likes you. Would you be happier if I said she wanted to suck your dick instead?”

“Man, that’s nasty. I was just thinking about heading home is all. Been a long day, right?”

Murdoc stares out the window and watches the gates of Kong appear in the distance. “Yeah, glad to be home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I did almost zero research into mini golf and I've never been so I apologize for any mini golf inaccuracies.
> 
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> Tumblr: randomcannedcheese


	3. Enter Noodle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's Noodle! Now the band is complete.

“So far we’ve talked about the singer of your band 2D and the drummer of your band Russel. I believe there is one last member. Noodle, right?”

Murdoc taps his foot on the ground. He knew they would have to talk about her eventually, but he almost felt awkward doing so. He wasn’t used to talking about how he felt, and there were a lot of feelings attached to Noodle.

“Yeah. Poppet came into our lives rather suddenly. Glad she did though. She’s become like a daughter to me. Can’t imagine life without her now.” A smile lights up the therapist’s face and she nods encouragingly.

“Why don’t you tell me about meeting her?”

\---------------

After months of rain it seemed like spring had finally arrived in England. The morning air was fresh, the sun was shining, and this was the first time in days that the band decided to take a break from writing music. 2D laid back in a lawn chair, eyes closed but face content. Murdoc sat next to him on a cooler that Russel had dragged out from the RV. In his lap was a notepad where he was supposed to be writing lyrics but instead it had become incoherent ramblings and doodles of clawed hands. Russel found a small gas grill at a local yard sale and was grilling his heart out for the first time since he left America. All in all, the band was finally relaxing and simply enjoying each other’s company.

They heard the commotion before they saw it. People were yelling, moving quickly, and crashing into things, all the while slowly getting closer. It seemed to be coming from the nearest alleyway and all three band members turned to watch a little girl dive out from the mouth of the narrow alley. She took one look around, saw the Winnebago, and her face was suddenly overcome with resolve. The little girl dashed inside before any of them could think to stop her. They watched her dump an entire cabinet’s worth of pots and pans onto the carpet before crawling inside. The door to the RV was blown closed and only seconds later a small fleet of cops came tumbling out of the alley, all looking ready to kill.

"Oi, you lot! Have you seen a kid run through here?" the cop in charge shouted. The rest began to spread out, their eyes watching every pile of trash like it might gain sentience just to jump up and attack them.

"A kid? Why, looking for a date?” Murdoc laughed but changed his tune when Russel slapped him upside the head. “Nah. No kids around here mate."

"But Murdoc-"

"Russ, why don't you take 2D inside. He's had a hard day and all, with his head being fucked up. Wouldn't you say?" Russel nodded, quickly pulling 2D up from his chair and into the messy RV, all while the blue haired man stuttered and fumbled. He must not have seen it, but Russel and Murdoc had. Strapped to the kid’s back was a Gibson Les Paul. Now, the kid might have stolen it, but if she hadn't, if she could play, the band may have just found their lead guitarist. Either way, the kid was obviously terrified and they could at least give her a safe place to stay for a while.

The inside of the camper was practically torn apart. Anything that had been stowed away was now on the floor and the little girl was nowhere to be seen. For a moment, Russel thought that she must have jumped out the window to make a run for it, but this suspicion was proven false when the door of the cupboard by the bathroom shuttered slightly.

Russel approached with caution, trying to keep his steps light and his voice calm. "Hey, kid? You're safe here. The cops are still out there so you can stay in there if you want, but you're safe, alright?" The door stopped it's quivering.

"2D, why don't you try talking to her?"

"Oh, ok." The other man shuffled forward and cleared a seat for himself on the floor next to the cabinet. "Um. hello."

2D then looked up to Russel, not quite sure what else to say.

"Why don't you tell her about your day, Stu? Just something relaxing."

"But I spent my day with Murdoc."

"Well then just talk to her. Keep your voice steady. Try to comfort her."

"Alright." Then 2D started to talk. He told the girl about his hometown, he told her about visiting the country side, he told her about playing piano. On and on 2D babbled until about 30 minutes later when Murdoc sauntered in.

"Cops are gone. They wanted to snoop around but I wasn't going to let them." Murdoc gave the RV a quick scan before turning his attention back to Russel. "Where's the kid?"

Russel looked at the cupboard. 2D just keep talking about his favorite flavor of ice cream.

“Alright,” Murdoc said, picking his way through the minefield of kitchen supplies, “Let’s get her out and see if she plays.”

“No!” Instantly 2D and Russel were in front of him, talking at the same time about safety and feeling secure and not scarring children for life. Murdoc backed off, only because he didn’t feel like trying to move Russel, who could be paid to be a brick wall full time if he wanted to be.

“Fine. Hey kid, play for us now or you’re back on the street.”

“Murdoc!” 2D started on another rant about emotional safety but was quickly interrupted by the most amazing guitar solo every preformed. It lasted for about a minute before it stopped, and the room went dead quiet. For a while, no one moved at all. All three men were too stunned to do anything but remember how to breathe and bask in the fact that they now had a full band. The girl was terrific, probably the best they could find or afford, and she had run right into the Winnebago.

Murdoc is the first to break free of her musical spell. He began to grin and glanced at the other two. Russel moved next, choosing to sit down at the kitchen table. He held his head in his hands, his brain having shut down for the foreseeable future. 2D was the last to move. He slowly turned to Murdoc, who still hasn’t stopped grinning. “That was like 200 demons screaming in Arabic.”

The smile Murdoc was sporting threatened to break his face. “Riff to end all riffs. And from inside a cupboard. Imagine what she will be like on stage.”

With that said, Russel seemed to come back online. “How about we give her a little time? When she decides to come out, then we can talk to her about all this. Not before. Got it?”

2D and Murdoc both nodded but Murdoc hasn’t stopped grinning. At least he’d leave the kid alone for a bit.

\---------------

"Can you understand us?" The girl cowered a little at Murdoc's aggressive stance. She had finally removed herself from the cabinet after an hour, only to be ambushed instantly by Murdoc and his rude behavior.

"Move, you're scaring her," Russel said as he nudged Murdoc aside. He then sat down across from where the girl was seated on the floor by the cupboard. She looked seconds away from crawling back inside. "Hey kid. We just want to know if you're getting any of this. Can you just nod if you understand us?" She paused, looking like she was weighting out her options before nodding slowly. "Good. Thank you. I know you're scared. Can you tell us your name?" This time she shook her head. "That's ok. You can tell us whenever you feel like it." Another shake of her head. "Can you not speak?" Another shake. "You won't ever want to tell us?" Her hands waved in the air out of frustration. Russel paused his line of questioning but before he could continue, 2D stepped forward.

"Do you not remember?" The girl beamed and nodded so harshly that Russel thought it might cause injury.

2D crouched down and smiled at her. "That's ok, I have problems remembering things too. In fact, if Murdoc wasn't with me the other day I would have walked out the door without trousers on." The girl returned 2D's smile as he continued on with stories about having a bad memory. It disturbed Russel that many of the stories were more recent.

Murdoc moved to sit on Russel's left, stretching his legs out in front of him and watching the girl and 2D have a one-sided conversation.

"We need to come up with a name for her," Murdoc said, never letting his eyes leave the scene in front of him.

They sat in silence for a few moments before Russel replied. "You're right. Won't be able to adopt her if she don't have a name."

Murdoc turned to Russel sharply. "Excuse me? You want to adopt her?"

"Yeah. She's going to be part of the band, but she'll need a parent. I'm the only one here that knows how to boil water or do laundry. I'll adopt her."

"I think not. I'm older than you. You're just a kid in comparison. Can’t have a kid raise a kid. I'll adopt her."

"You haven't even started therapy yet. You can't adopt her when you're this unstable. And you are constantly drunk and smoking. That's not good for a kid."

"So? You have a ghost running around your head. What if it hurts her?"

"Del would never hurt anyone, especially not a kid. I, on the other hand, don’t mind hurting someone, especially you!"

Both men were interrupted by a wadded-up napkin sailing between their faces. They looked up to see 2D and the girl staring at them. 2D seemed rather confused, like he hadn't even considered that this girl would need to become part of the legal system, but the kid was smiling wide at both of them, happy to be argued over. Her smile turned mischievous and it became apparent that she threw the napkin.

Once she saw that she had their attention, she pointed once at Russel, once at Murdoc, and a final time at 2D. She repeated the gesture once more when no one seemed to understand her.

It took a moment, but a look of understanding finally crossed Russel’s face. "Kid, you are out of your mind.”

"Why, what’s she saying?" Murdoc asked.

"She wants us all to adopt her."

The room went quiet.

2D was the first to speak up. "Is that even possible? Can we do that?"

Russel shook his head. "Don't know how it works here in the UK but I don't think so. Maybe two of us if we were married but I'm not marrying any of you. Not even sure I want to be in a band with any of you."

"We should let her pick. She can pick which one of us can be her parent," 2D said, hoping the compromise would keep Russel and Murdoc from fighting.

"Fine, we will. How about it kiddo, which one of us do you want to adopt you?" Russel asked.

The tiny girl looked at all three of them before pointing to each band member once more.

"Guess we all have to adopt her."

"2D, I already told you that's not possible."

"But it's what she wants."

Murdoc decided to step in. "We can at least try. I have some... friends... who know a thing or two about, well, paperwork. They could probably set us up so that some kind of arrangement where we are all the guardians."

While Russel didn't like the fact that these men were more likely that not criminals, he knew that this little girl had just appeared out of nowhere and would be taken away from them without any identification to protect her. 2D seemed to have reached a similar conclusion.

"No harm in trying. Sound good kiddo?"

The kid nodded once more before deciding to blow the minds of three grown men.

"Hai."

"She talks!"

\---------------

About an hour later Russel pulled 2D and Murdoc outside for a chat. The little girl was taking a nap on Russel’s mattress after the long morning she had, and it gave him a chance to talk to the others alone.

“If she’s going to stay with us, we have a few things that need done. First off, she needs clothes and stuff. Then we need to clean up the Winnebago. We also need to get her paperwork. She can’t just be running around without some kind of ID.”

“Leave that to me. I already told you that I’ve got some friends who can handle it. Nothing to worry about.”

“Well then what about clothes? And the RV? Murdoc, there are knives sticking out of the bathroom door. That’s not safe. What if she ran into one?”

“Russel, we can clean up the Winnebago. It shouldn’t take too long. Why don’t you take her for clothes when she wakes up and we can clean up while you’re gone.”

“Really? You expect me to believe that you can clean up this place by yourself?”

“Won’t be by myself. I’ve got 2D.”

2D, up until this point, had been picking at the chipped polish on his nails. When he felt both Russel and Murdoc staring he finally looked up. “What?”

“I’ve just decided that I don’t trust either of you enough to handle cleaning the RV alone.”

“Well how are we supposed to clean up with the kid around? Do you expect one of us to take her shopping? Can’t imagine that would go well. 2D doesn’t remember the way back from the shops half the time and I only know how to get to the corner store where they sell those prawn flavored crisps, cigs, and booze. You don’t want me taking her shopping.”

“Fine, you know what? We all go, then we come back and we all clean. I can’t imagine it will end that badly.”

\---------------

Russel regretted every choice he had ever made in his life. When the little girl woke up and they had packed up and driven about thirty minutes to the closest mall. This was Russel’s most recent choice and also his most recent mistake. Neither 2D nor Murdoc knew how to behave like adults. Almost instantly Murdoc disappeared into a store selling lacy bras and was kicked out before Russel could steer the little girl away. 2D wasn’t as bad but he still caused problems. It seemed like 2D would forget that he was in the center of a busy shopping mall and suddenly stop walking. People around him would get annoyed and after this happened a few times, Russel had decided he had enough. The three of them made quite a spectacle as they walked through the mall hand in hand, but Russel was already stressed, and this was the only way to keep the peace. It was decided early on that Murdoc was on his own.

Their first stop was a store that sold kids clothes. Russel quickly flagged down one of the younger, kinder looking sales ladies to ask for help with sizing. She took one look at Noodle with her choppy hair, round face, and tiny hand in Russel’s and instantly fell in love. Noodle was quickly dragged into the appropriate section and the lady began piling things into the basket that 2D had been instructed to carry.

“How about this one sweetie? Do you like it?” The shirt the attendant was holding up had more glitter than Russel thought possible and would likely blind people if it ever saw the light of day. All three of them shook their heads.

“She’s really active. Do you have anything she can run around in?”

“Oh, of course. Now this might seem strange, but I promise it’s ok.” The lady led them out of the girl’s section and over to the boys section. There she loaded up their basket with sensible pants, shorts, and t-shirts. “She will have to try them on, but they should all fit about the same. It’s a matter of preference too. Some girls hate thicker materials like denim, so they get leggings and dresses instead. I’ve already put some in your basket for this little sweetheart to try on!” Russel just nodded along.

When the sales lady finally seemed satisfied with the selection, she smiled up at Russel and 2D.

“Now, there are changing rooms in the back. Once she knows what she likes and what she doesn’t it should be easy to shop for her. I’ve also put a variety of different sizes in there. Anything that doesn’t fit or that she doesn’t like goes on the rack by the changing room door. Any questions?”

“Nope, you’ve been a real help.”

“Not a problem! Also, I just want to say, I think it’s really sweet what you two are doing for her. My cousin and his husband adopted a baby girl from Asia too. It’s great that you are giving her a chance in the world.”

It took 2D a moment to understand what she was implying, but when he did he began to shake his head and stutter incoherently. Russel just tightened his grip on the other man’s hand and dragged him away.

“Come on honey, got to get our kid set up with some nice clothes.” Russel tried not to laugh as 2D’s sputtering increased.

When they finally reached the dressing room, another much less interested attendant handed them a plastic number card and told them to take any room. Russel found the biggest one possible and shoved 2D and Noodle inside.

“Alright kiddo. We’ve got a lot of choices here and Murdoc handed me a credit card that he claims will work just fine. Anything you like, you can get. Ok?” She nodded in response and turned to faced down the basket that was probably stacked higher than she was tall.

“Um, ok. I will help you go through them, alright? You can change on your own right?” Again, she nodded.

“Good. Here, t-shirts should be pretty easy to do first.”

They quickly developed a system. Russel handed the little girl clothes to try on. She changed while 2D and Russel turned away. Then she would snap her fingers to signal that they could turn around and they would decide together whether to keep it or not. 2D had gotten good at reading the girl’s face and could tell right away when she was excited about something. He always made sure to clap or give a small cheer of encouragement and Russel followed his example, nodding and smiling when she seemed attached to something.

In the end, they had a good-sized pile of shirts, pants, and shorts for the girl, as well as a purple jacket that she refused to take off. It looked too large for her, but she seemed content and Russel figured that she would grow into it. 2D grabbed the now significantly lighter basket and Russel grabbed the pile of rejects. He couldn’t help but notice that most of them were pink, sparkly, and had an insane amount of ruffles. Russel was almost relieved. He wouldn’t know what to do with a girly girl in the RV.

After dumping the unwanted clothes on the rack by the still uninterested attendant, Russel grabbed both 2D’s and the girl’s hand again. 2D flushed and muttered something about being just band mates, but Russel chose to ignore him. If he lost either one of them in the mall he would never forgive himself.

Checkout took longer than Russel expected, mainly because the man behind the counter pointed out that they didn’t have socks or underwear for the little girl and Russel had to run back through the store to find them. He grabbed a few in each size that he thought might fit her and rushed back to the counter. To his surprise, both 2D and the girl were still there and hadn’t wandered off.

They quickly finished paying and left the store with five large bags of clothes, which Russel held. 2D had given up on being embarrassed and now was in the middle holding one of Russel’s hands and one of the little girl’s.

“Hey Russel? How’s about we stop for something to eat? Didn’t think shopping could ever take so long and it’s past lunch time.”

“Sure. Where do you want to go?”

They wandered the mall for a few minutes before deciding on a Japanese restaurant. It was a nicer place, but Russel figured that Murdoc’s credit card had worked once, so it would work again.

They were seated in a large booth with paper lanterns hanging overhead and quickly handed menus. 2D stretched out on one side of the booth. Russel sat on the inside of the other booth and directed the little girl to sit next to him so that he could read her different food options to see if anything interested her. She seemed almost bored for the longest time but when Russel hit the noodle section she got excited.

“Noodle!”

“Yeah, sweetie. Noodles. You want noodles for lunch?”

“Noodle!”

“Ok, what type do you want? They’ve got-”

“Noodle!”

She was now chanting the word, bouncing in her seat and pounding her fists on the table to emphasize her point. The other patrons of the restaurant were beginning to stare.

“Kid, I really don’t understand what you’re saying. Do you not want noodles?”

“Noodle!”

2D finally decided to speak up. “Maybe she remembered something?” He turned to the girl. “Is that what it is? Did you remember something?”

The question made her think, her head lowering slightly. Then she slowly nodded.

“Noodle,” she repeated one final time, pointing at herself.

“Oh! It’s a nickname! Her nickname must have been Noodle. Do you want us to call you that now?”

“Hai.”

“Ok, Noodle it is! Hello Noodle. I’m Stuart Pot but you can just call me 2D. It’s nice to finally meet you.” 2D reached across the table to shake her hand. She giggled and humored him. Russel just stared in shock. 2D seemed to understand the girl, or maybe he was reading her mind. Either way, he was a lot smarter than people gave him credit for.

“Konnichiwa 2D. Watashinonamaeha Noodle.” The process was repeated with Russel and finally the scared little girl turned who ran into the Winnebago to hide turned into a vibrant, happy child named Noodle.

“What’s all this then?” The group looked up to see Murdoc standing over them. His hands were full of bags that he carefully placed on the floor before sitting down next to 2D.

“She remembered something Muds! Her name is Noodle. Well, her nickname. She still can’t remember what her real name is but that’s alright.”

“That’s good. Can’t go around calling her kid forever.” The conversation continued until the waitress came over to take their order. Russel was surprised when no one – Murdoc – said anything out of line. If Russel hadn’t been living with the man for weeks he wouldn’t have guessed that this was the same person who had, just yesterday, tried to do donuts in the parking lot with the Winnebago.

Murdoc noticed Russel’s blatant confusion and, after the waitress left with their order, turned to Russel with a serious expression that didn’t seem to fit on his usually angry or sneering face.

“Jobs like this are terrible. People are pieces of shit, plain and simple. Girl doesn’t need another scum bag objectifying her while she’s trying to do her job. She doesn’t need us to make her life worse. Already a lot of human garbage doing that. Least we can do is be respectful and treat her well.” Russel was stunned. Murdoc Niccals, who flipped off cops and stole cigarettes, who answered the door without pants on and had been arrested multiple times for public urination, had some form of a moral code. The other man seemed to sense Russel’s shock.

“Listen, most of us have worked jobs like this. They are worse than licking Satan’s ass crack. I’ve had my fair share of shitty jobs and I know for a fact that the people I treated best were the people that treated me best. Don’t go thinking that I’m doing this for her. I just want the best service possible.” Even with that said, Russel still had a feeling that Murdoc was going to leave a good tip.

2D seemed to have enough of the heavy atmosphere and decided to interject. “So, Murdoc, what’s in the bags?”

“Oh these? Just stuff for Noodle. You lot went into a clothes store so I’m sure she got all that sorted but there was a bunch of other stuff she’s going to need. Figured I could grab all of that while you and Russel got her clothes.” Murdoc then pulled one of many bags onto the table and began to show the other three what he had gotten. There was a child sized tooth brush, toothpaste with a cartoon superhero on it, a towel with a hood that looked like a crocodile’s head, a mattress pad for her to sleep on, sidewalk chalk, a few different jump ropes, piles of board games, and even a stuffed animal in the shape of a raven.

The thing that caught Noodle’s eye, however, was the entire bag full of colorful Japanese children’s books. Some were designed to help Japanese speaking children learn English, but the rest were just stories. She immediately grabbed one that had a cat on it, flipped it open and began reading furiously. They all watched her for a few moments before Russel decided now was as good a time as any to start parenting her.

“Noodle, when someone gets you something nice you say thank you. Murdoc was nice enough to get you all these books, I think he deserves a thank you.” Noodle, however, didn’t seem to think a simple thank you was enough. She launched herself from her seat and over the table, crashing into Murdoc’s chest. Then she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and said thank you so many times that the words lost all meaning. The entire encounter made Murdoc freeze. He didn’t seem to know what to do with his arms, as they were both up in the air, not touching Noodle at all. Even his head was tilted away as much as possible.

Russel locked eyes with him and instantly started laughing. He had never seen anyone so scared in his life. He almost felt sorry for Murdoc. The poor man obviously didn’t know what to do when someone gave him any sort of affection. There was also a chance that he didn’t want to make a mistake, that maybe Murdoc was afraid he would hurt her.

When Russel had finally calmed down, he stood up and gently pried Noodle off Murdoc. He then felt that it was a good time to explain that she needed to ask permission before jumping at someone like that, which lead to some confusion on everyone’s parts, which lead to a talk about physical contact and possible trauma, which lead to more confusion, which lead Russel to having a talk about consent with the three people closest to him, two of which were adults. By the time their food arrived the band had dissolved into chaos, with Russel laying his head on the table, 2D and Murdoc in an intense argument about how to treat women, and Noodle having crossed her arms and turned her back to all of them.

“Alright, who ordered the California Roll?” Four heads snapped up to glare at the waitress and she suddenly seemed slightly overwhelmed. Russel watched her quickly place the food on the table and scurry away, asking if they needed anything out of habit as she left. Her interruption caused the band to go silent and they all ate in the dead quiet for several minutes.

2D was the first one to speak. “Russel. I know we kind of messed it up, but I just wanted to say thanks for trying to teach us something. My mum and dad didn’t really ever think I would have a problem with consent, so they never bothered to teach me.”

“Yeah. My old man didn’t really give a shit. Seemed to think I was going to die before I was able to get out there. Proved him wrong, didn’t I? Also, don’t think he gave a toss about consent or any of that nonsense. And it’s good that Noodle learns this stuff early. It’s too late for me to be anything but crap, but maybe she can have a fighting chance. Guess I’m just – well I – what I mean to say.” Murdoc finally gave up, throwing his arms in the air before grabbing his fork to aggressively shove stir fry into his mouth.

“I get what you’re saying. Thanks man. Also, it’s never too late to do right for yourself and the people you care about. It’s only too late if you give up. All about making an effort every day. And even if you fuck it up sometimes, at least you tried, and you didn’t stop trying.”

It took a few minutes, but the band got over the emotional moment and moved on to talking about where Noodle would stay in the Winnebago. This conversation quickly turned into another argument that continued through lunch, out the door, and to the shoe store, which Russel hoped would be the last stop of the day.

Entering the store seemed to cause all arguing to stop as the band suddenly became enamored with all the different shoes for children. Russel tried to steer them toward the more sensible shoes but both 2D and Noodle kept pulling down boxes at random, just to see what was inside. Russel followed this storm of insanity until they both had tired themselves out, allowing Russel to plop them down on the available chairs and start the process of sizing Noodle. Once this was done, Russel went back into the aisles to grab a few pairs of different tennis shoes and Converse for Noodle to try on. He ended up finding Murdoc near the child sized dress shoes, clutching a display shoe. It was a small brown boot with about a one-inch heel. It looked a lot like the Cuban heels that Murdoc wore exclusively.

“Man, you should have Noodle try a pair on. Bet she would love them.”

“I don’t think-” But Murdoc couldn’t even finish his sentence before Russel was grabbing a pair in the correct size for Noodle.

They both walked back to where the other two were sitting and began having Noodle try on all the different shoes. She quickly dismissed anything plain but seemed to be partial to purples and bright colors. Before long they had a stack of five pairs of shoes that she seemed to like. The only pair she hadn’t tried on was the heels that Murdoc had picked out. Now they were the only pair left and Russel could practically feel the tension rolling off Murdoc.

“Here kid, last pair. Think you’ll like these.” Russel opened the box. Noodle glanced at them, then at Murdoc, then at his shoes, then back into the box. She hesitantly reached for the first boot, holding it in her hands like it might break.

“Go ahead Noodle. Try them on.” With Russel’s encouragement, Noodle slipped the boot onto her foot and buckled it. She then put the other one on and cautiously stood up. It took her a few steps to get comfortable in the heels but once she was, she ran over to Murdoc and crushed him in another hug. For the second time in the same day, Russel watched fear fill Murdoc’s eyes. This time though, he was able to recover and began to pat Noodle’s back with the amount of care Russel would expect from someone handing glass. She released Murdoc from her death grip and walked back over smiling at Russel. She handed him the box but refused to take the shoes off. Checkout was made a little difficult because of this but they got through it and were finally able to leave the mall. Noodle held Murdoc’s hand the entire time, leaving 2D and Russel to hold all the bags. They didn’t mind though, as they got to watch Murdoc stare at their linked hands for the entire walk to the RV.

Once they were back in the Winnebago, Russel strapped Noodle into the passenger seat then sat down with 2D at the kitchen table. Murdoc pulled out of the mall and began to make his way back to the abandoned mini mart.

Russel looked around, taking in the mountain of bags all filled with clothes, shoes and other essentials, the people around him, and the faint smiles on all of their faces. “Well, that wasn’t too bad.”

\---------------

When they finally got back to the parking lot of the mini mart, Russel made the executive decision to plop Noodle down at the picnic table with her new books, her guitar, and a stack of drawing supplies while he, Murdoc, and 2D worked on the RV. He was quick to set her up, then he began to coordinate the other two in how to properly clean up after themselves. Murdoc complained about being used as unpaid labor, but Russel pointed out that he wasn’t afraid to send Noodle home to live with his parents. While this was a complete lie, it scared Murdoc enough to shut him up.

Next, Russel instructed them to begin moving everything they could outside. The sun was still shining, and they needed to take advantage of the nice weather. 2D was quick to jump to work, moving all his items out of the camper in only a few minutes, but Murdoc was a creature of habit and Russel began to worry that he would literally have to bend his arm to get him to do anything helpful. He didn’t have to go to those extremes though, because 2D mentioned how he was beating Murdoc and suddenly it became a race between the two to see who could empty the RV first. Russel didn’t even try to get in their way, instead focusing on sorting all the items.

It took about an hour to clear out all the things from the RV, including the storage area underneath the living area. The second part of the process involved cleaning the place up. Russel knew that they would quickly make it dirty again, but he couldn’t help but cringe at all the dust and debris built up in the drawers and on the floor. He worked on this part himself, not trusting the others near any kind of chemical. 2D tried to help sweep but he and Russel kept bumping into each other, so he was quickly booted out of the RV. He and Murdoc started up and impromptu jam session with Noodle while they waited. Russel might have felt left out expect that he knew this needed done and that they would all benefit from it.

The papers on the walls sparked a short argument, but it ended when everyone but Russel voted that they stay. He couldn’t help but feel that the papers made the entire place look like some kind of evil villain’s lair but apparently no one else did.

With this settled, Russel began the painstaking process of putting things back into the RV in their proper place. Here he again enlisted the help of Murdoc and 2D. 2D got put in charge of putting all the bathroom items away, Murdoc worked on finding a good place for all the instruments to go. Russel handled the kitchen utensils, making sure to wash them before putting them in their drawers. 2D was quick to finish with the bathroom, having made everyone their own little carry cases for their individual items, and had been placed on clothes duty. The camper came with some storage space under the couch and bed but 2D had to get creative. In the end, each band member had two drawers that 2D even labeled so they wouldn’t get mixed up. Russel couldn’t help but be impressed with the amount of effort and care the other man was putting in to make the Winnebago a decent place to live.

Once Russel was finished in the kitchen, he realized that he hadn’t seen Murdoc in a while. He tracked him down outside, sorting through the diminishing pile of stuff. The bassist had managed to separate most of the musical instruments from the general pile, but he looked overwhelmed. Russel only had to take one look at the instrument pile to see the problem he was having. They had a lot more than Russel originally thought. He had always just assumed that they had the bare minimum, but between the three adults, it seemed like they could open a studio tomorrow. There were sound boards, DJing equipment, all kinds of percussion, including Russel’s complete drum kit, a few different keyboards, an assortment of amps and so many different cords to hook everything up that Russel was afraid Murdoc might end up lost in them.

“Ok, Muds. New plan. Most of this is going to have to be stored in the compartment under the RV. The rest needs to go inside, it’s the only way we’ll have room. The stuff we use often, 2D’s favorite keyboard, the bass and guitar, two or three amps, and some percussion will go inside. The rest, including my drum kit, are going to be packed away until we need them.”

Murdoc nodded, appearing almost grateful for the order. He began to attack the wad of cords, trying his best to untangle them. When he made no progress he finally sat down on the ground hard. Russel thought the extremely loud wail was a little much though.

All the ruckus distracted Noodle from her reading. She wandered over, saw the mess of instruments and cords and immediately sat down to help Murdoc with his chore. Before she started, however, she gently patted Murdoc on the knee while muttering comforting words in Japanese. He didn’t look up from where he head was buried in his hands, but his shoulders stopped shaking.

With Murdoc back under control, Russel began to tackle the rest of their things. Books were collected and placed inside on the kitchen table for 2D to sort, CD’s were stacked and placed in the glove compartment for the band to listen to later. 2D’s record player and any record Russel found was placed behind the passenger seat where 2D slept. The few taxidermy supplies that Russel had were placed in the cabinet labeled “Russ’s Personal Stuff.” Russel continued this pattern of picking up items and putting them away until there wasn’t anything left to sort. 2D exited the camper at the same time that Russel realized that the previously cluttered ground was clean. Murdoc and Noodle had finished up as well, if the mess that cluttered the picnic table was anything to go by.

“We done?” Russel asked.

“Sure looks like it. But I’ve got one thing left to do. Why don’t you and 2D feed the kid some dinner while I finish up inside.” Murdoc didn’t wait for Russel to reply, just shoved past him and slammed the door behind him.

2D watched but didn’t seem phased by Murdoc’s temper. “Think Noodle will like Indian food?”

The three walked to a local restaurant, got their food to go, and returned as fast as possible. While 2D and Noodle didn’t seem too concerned, Russel still had a nagging fear that Murdoc would one day decide to just run away from the band, leaving Russel to pick up the broken pieces of 2D and now a child. He didn’t want to leave Murdoc alone with a working vehicle any longer than necessary. When they returned they found everything the way they left it, except Murdoc was sitting outside idly strumming his bass.

“What took you lot so long? Starving over here.”

“What did you do inside?” Russel wasn’t in the mood for games. His worries had festered during the entire trip and he was about to take his pent-up emotion out on Murdoc.

“Go see for yourself.” Russel stormed though the door, expecting a mess or something foul, only to be met with clean white locks. On every cabinet, every drawer, even on the fridge and stove, Murdoc had installed child safety locks.

“Got them from the mall earlier. Thought if we’re going to have a kid around, we might not want her digging through the knives or tasting the beer. All the alcohol is in the fridge now and I also put locks on all our personal cabinets, except for Noodles. She don’t need to be riffling through my crap or anyone else’s.”

“Um, Murdoc. She’s eight.”

“Yeah, so? There’re called child safety locks, right? She’s a child.”

“Well, yeah. But she’s eight.”

“No, I’m not taking them down, don’t even suggest it. Took me forever to figure out how to get them on. They’re staying.”

Russel admitted defeat. “Ok, fine. They can stay.” He almost felt guilty for not telling Murdoc that Noodle could easily get into the locked areas, but the older man seemed so content with a job well done that Russel just couldn’t find it in himself to break his spirts.

The men left the RV to find 2D and Noodle had set the table for dinner. Each place setting had a napkin, a fork, and a plastic lid which served as a plate. Both were already eating, having sampled a little bit of everything, and Russel and Murdoc sat down the join them. It almost felt like sitting down for dinner with Del’s family, but Del’s family had been nice, sane people. This crew was drastically different. The fact that the comparison had come to mind didn’t go over Russel’s head though. However hard he tried to deny it, these people were slowly becoming his family.

\---------------

"So where exactly is this kid gonna sleep?"

Murdoc looked up from his sheet music to find Russel towering over him, obviously in a nasty mood. They had finished dinner and decided to end the day by getting to know Noodle’s playing style. After about two hours the others had called it quits but Murdoc had stayed behind to start writing new songs. Working without three other people criticizing each line and note was just easier. Now, however, his peace was being disturbed by Russel, who refused to be ignored and was still annoyed at him from earlier. How was Murdoc supposed to know the kid’s fingers would bleed after playing for only a few hours? He hadn’t had that problem in years.

"We'll find room, won't we? Found room enough for you. And look at her, she's tiny. She'll fit anywhere." Murdoc returned to the song he was writing, only to be interrupted by Russel's meaty hand on his shoulder. The thick fingers dug into skin and bone and Murdoc suddenly became more interested in the problem. "Listen, mate. We will do right by her, just got to get a couple gigs first. Trying to find a place to live is well and all be we don't have money. So, unless you've suddenly come into millions, we are just going to have to put off the dream childhood for a while."

Russel's hand didn't move for a few minutes, his fingers slowly sinking into Murdoc's flesh, pressure slowly increasing but Murdoc held his ground. It was only Noodle running directly into Russel's legs with enough force to almost knock him off balance that broke the standoff.

"Russel-san! Fort! Fort!"

"What fort?" Russel and Murdoc both stood and made their way into the Winnebago, climbing carefully over random instruments and equipment lying on the ground from earlier practice. Inside 2D was standing proudly next to the dinner table which was draped with multiple blankets. One had been pulled aside to reveal a mountain of pillows and blankets underneath, most of which had belonged to 2D. Noodle quickly moved past both men to stand by 2D's side. Peaking out from it all was the mattress pad that Murdoc bought at the mall.

"Fort! 2D-san made fort!” Noodle then dove into the blanket pile, curling up into a ball and cuddling a stuffed toy ram that likely had belonged to 2D.

2D pulled the blanket tent closed then turned to the remaining band members. "Great isn't? This way she can have her own space. Needed a bed too, and now she's got one."

"Well, I guess that's that then." Murdoc quickly turned and left the camper, not ready to face Russel if he didn't approve of the little girl's accommodations. 2D just smiled.

“It’s not the worst idea. Great job, 2D. Girl’s going to need some space from us. Think she’s going to want to sleep soon?”

“She’s a little kid so probably? I don’t really know. Only kids I’ve ever been around was my cousins and nobody liked me watching them because once I let them have a bunch of sweets then swung them really high on the swings.”

Russel grimaced in sympathy. He didn’t even have to hear 2D finish the story to know what happened. A belly full of candy and fast, sharp movements didn’t mix well from Russel’s experience.

Before they continued their conversation, he pulled 2D further into the camper, until they were away from Noodle’s fort and next to Murdoc’s bed.

“Listen man, I need to warn her about Del.”

“Why?”

“Why? Because he’s a ghost that’s possessing me. Can’t not tell her and have her freak out in the middle of the night. Don’t want her to panic.”

“Well, go tell her. She’s right over there.”

“I could,” Russel paused, trying to find the right words, “but I don’t want her not to trust me anymore. Or worse, what if she’s afraid of me when I tell her? I’ve only known her for a day and already I want her to be able to depend on me. She’s like my own sister or even my own kid. I need to be able to protect her and for her to trust me to do that. If she gets scared of me…”

“Russel, that won’t happen.”

“How do you know?”

“Because Noodle is standing right behind you looking like she might cry if you don’t give her a hug.”

Russel spun around so fast he might have given himself whiplash. Standing behind him was Noodle, her eyes welling up with tears, holding her arms out. Immediately he scooped her up, cradling her close, saying anything and everything he could he could think of to calm her down.

“Russel-san good,” was the only English Russel could pick up in between incoherent Japanese rambling. That was all Russel needed though. He squeezed her tighter, telling her over and over again that he would never let anything hurt her.

A gentle touch on his arm made Russel look up. 2D was standing beside him, looking slightly lost and watery eyed.

“Come here man. I’ll protect you too.” 2D didn’t need to be told twice to join the hug. For a while no one moved, not willing to break the loving atmosphere they had created.

When Noodle began to squirm, however, Russel carefully put her down. She wiped her eyes, nodded at both of them, and retreated back to her fort like nothing had happened. It was almost a shock to go from such a tender moment to being dismissed. 2D’s sudden laughter, however, was even more shocking.

“Looks like she got what she wanted, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah, gets her hugs in and leaves. Shit, I still need to tell her about Del.”

“I think she overheard the entire conversation. If you actually wanted any privacy we should have gone outside.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

2D nodded, stretched his arms up into the air and began to walk towards the front of the camper. “Well, night Russel!”

“Night 2D. Gonna go bring in Murdoc before he freezes his ass off.”

“What ass?”

Russel smiled and high fived 2D as he walked out, ready to haul Murdoc in by force. Turned out that it wasn’t necessary, however, because Murdoc had fallen asleep in the lawn chair, notepad and pen still in hand, mouth hanging open. Russel carefully picked up the man. The only reaction he got from Murdoc was a loud snore. Carrying him back inside turned into a juggling act, trying to get the door open without dropping Murdoc or the notepad but he finally got inside and tossed Murdoc into his bed. Russel was ready to leave him alone and go to bed himself, but he paused to look at the sleeping man. The bruising under his eyes from a lack of sleep made him seem more haggard.  His mouth was still open to show off jagged teeth and he was snoring loudly. He still had his shoes and sweater on but seemed to be shivering slightly, likely from falling asleep outside.

Russel tried to talk himself out of it, but he had already made up his mind. Mindful of who he was dealing with, Russel removed both of Murdoc’s shoes and placed them by the door with everybody else’s. He then pulled one of the blankets from a hidden compartment in the floor and draped it over Murdoc. With this accomplished, he took one last look at Murdoc. His mouth was still open, he was still snoring, he still had bags under his eyes, but now he wouldn’t be sleeping in his shoes or shivering from the cold all night. With this slight improvement, Russel laid down and almost immediately fell asleep.

\---------------

Morning came faster than Russel thought it would, especially because he was woken by Noodle jumping onto his chest. For a second he panicked, not remembering that yesterday they had basically adopted a little girl into their lives. Despite the shock, Russel was quick to recover and before long they were both up making breakfast. The smell of fresh pancakes filled the air and soon Russel could hear 2D stirring at the front of the camper.

“Morning Dee. How’d you sleep?” His question was met by a loud groan.

“That bad huh? Do you need some meds?” Another groan served as his reply. Russel gave some basic instructions on how to cook the pancakes to Noodle and walked over to where 2D was still laying down. He had both hands over his eyes, his entire body curled up on the seat. His face seemed to be set in a permanent grimace.

“Ok, man. It’s time for some meds. I’ll grab them for you and you can just stay here until they kick in, alright?” Russel didn’t even bother to wait for a response. He shut the blinds over each window tightly then walked over to his personal drawer. Inside was a lock box that held 2D’s medication and only Russel knew the combination. After their talk a while back, it had been decided that Russel was the only one responsible enough to hold onto 2D’s meds. After reading over the instructions printed on the bottle, Russel shook out two small pills then returned everything back into his designated drawer. He grabbed a glass of water then made his way back over to 2D.

“Alright 2D. Here’s something to help with the pain. You have to sit up to take it but then you can go right back to sleep.” When it became apparent that 2D had no plans of sitting up anytime soon, Russel adjusted the chair until it was in a sitting position. He then placed the water glass in one of 2D’s hands and the two pills in the other. Doing this seemed to trigger a reflex in 2D that had him instantly taking the pills and chugging half the water. He then handed the glass back to Russel, flopped back down, and pulled his blanket over his eyes. Russel moved the seat back to its original position.

“If you feel better soon, you can get up for breakfast. If not, we’ll save you some pancakes.”

When Russel finally got back to Noodle, he was met with a small mountain of pancakes. It looked like she had gotten bored with the one size and decided to have her own fun. The pancakes at the bottom of the plate were huge but decreased in size going up the stack until they got to be about the size of a quarter. Noodle just smiled up at him from where she was frying off the last of the batter. Some of the pancakes in the pan were just dots.

“Looks like you’ve been having fun.”

“Hai!”

“Well, when you finish up with these last few we can dig in. I think I saw some syrup somewhere.” Russel grabbed jam, the syrup, chocolate sauce and a few plates, set them out at the breakfast table then started dividing up pancakes. Noodle finished up quickly and before long there were chowing down.

A groan from the other side of the camper told Russel that Murdoc was waking up.

“Wha-what’s that smell?”

“Pancakes Murdoc-san!”

“Pancakes?” Murdoc looked up and Russel could only imagine what he saw. Noodle, with her face covered in jam, chocolate sauce, and syrup. Russel with his face stuffed full of an entire giant pancake, half of it still hanging out of his mouth. The entire place was dark except for the single overhead light Russel had turned on.

For a second Murdoc looked ready to go just roll over and go back to sleep, but Noodle was faster than any of them could anticipate. Before Murdoc could complain she had already dragged him off the bed, over to the table and had shoved him into a seat. A full plate of pancakes sat in front of him and Noodle slide the jam over to Murdoc before digging into her soggy pile of sugary mush. Russel made a mental note to pick up some healthier food options as he finished off his pancakes.

Once the three had finished breakfast they went outside to plan for the rest of the day. Murdoc wanted to continue practicing but Russel was quick to veto this, pointing out that Noodle’s fingers were still injured from yesterday’s practice session. The two then bounced ideas off each other, neither one able to agree with the other. Their argument ended with Noodle dashing into the Winnebago then ran back out with her arms full of books. She threw them on the table for Russel and Murdoc examine and they quickly discovered that they were all related to learning English.

“Well, if we’re not playing anything today we should probably start teaching her the basics.” Murdoc nodded and grabbed a book from the pile. The group spent the next couple hours working with Noodle on basic phases. Russel understood enough Japanese from the few high school classes he took to act as a translator for Noodle. 2D popped his head out of the RV window around lunch time, obviously feeling much better. His hair was matted on one side and he had a rolled-up pancake in his hand.

“What have you lot been up to all morning?” Noodle answered 2D’s question by running to the RV, dragging 2D outside, then clearing her throat. She was getting ready for a performance. She then turned to face 2D and held out her hand.

“Hello 2D-san. My name is Noodle. How are you today?” Each word was memorized, and she likely didn’t understand exactly what each word meant. None of that mattered to 2D, who immediately began to jump up and down, shaking Noodle’s hand.

“Noodle, that was amazing! You’re so talented! Soon you’ll be speaking English better than Murdoc!”

“What did you say?” Murdoc gave 2D a half-hearted glare. 2D replied with a sheepish smile, but even Murdoc’s attitude couldn’t break the singer’s spirit.

They spent the rest of the day working with Noodle, teaching her how to ask and respond to basic questions, the names of instruments, and music terminology. To Russel it almost felt selfish to teach her these things first, rather than other things like math or even manners, but music was the only thing the group really had in common. Her lesson continued through lunch and dinner, with occasion breaks to listen to a record or for a smoke, in the case of the older band members. By the time Russel finally declared it to be bed time, the moon had been up for hours.

Noodle, between yawns, complained that it was too early for bed, but didn’t resist when 2D lead her inside. Russel stood and began to walk towards the door but paused when Murdoc didn’t follow.

“Hey man. We should all try to get some sleep.”

“What are you, my dad?”

“No, I’m your friend.” Murdoc opened his mouth to respond but couldn’t seem to think of how to reply. Taking advantage of Murdoc’s apparent shock, Russel quickly pushed him inside. 2D and Noodle were both in their pajamas and brushing their teeth at the tiny bathroom sink. The little girl waved as Russel lead them over to Murdoc’s bed. Once there he grabbed one of Murdoc’s baggier long sleeve sleep shirts and a pair of sweat pants and ordered him to change. He was surprised when Murdoc did so without question, then climbed into bed without prompting.

2D and Noodle had finished up in the bathroom and were already in bed, possibly even asleep. Russel pulled him mattress out and unrolled in on the floor then got ready for bed himself. Just as he was lying down, however, Murdoc finally decided to respond.

“Did you mean what you said?” Russel looked over to Murdoc, who was sitting up in bed.

Their eyes met, and Russel nodded. “Yeah. Wouldn’t say it if I didn’t mean it.”

Murdoc suddenly became fascinated by his sheets, his fingers pulling at a stray thread, his eyes locked on a small stain next to his hand. “Huh. That’s. I’ve never. Never really had.”

“Don’t over think it, man. Just accept it and go to sleep.” Once again Murdoc did as he was told. With everyone tucked in and Murdoc convinced to at least try to sleep, Russel was feeling rather accomplished. Little by little, they were making progress, working toward something better.

\---------------

"You can't drink around Noodle."

"What do you mean I can't drink around Noodle?" Murdoc had allowed Russel to drag him outside, thinking they were going to get into another fight about the music or 2D or the fact that Murdoc had mooned a bus full of tourists earlier. This, however, was a surprise.

"You heard what I said. She shouldn't be around alcohol. She's only eight."

Murdoc rolled his eyes. "I suppose you want me to stop smoking too?"

"At least indoors."

"You've got to be kidding me. Why?"

"She's just a kid."

“Yeah? When I was a kid my dad did a lot worse than smoke and drink around me. She’ll be fine.”

Russel wanted to ask about Murdoc’s past but quickly decided not to pry. They could talk about it another time. At the moment, Russel had a mission.

“Listen, I can’t make you stop, but I know you care about her. I want her to grow up feeling safe. She’s had a hard time, she can’t remember who she is or where she came from and she can’t even speak English. We can’t make her life fantastic, but we can make it better, starting by surrounding her with positive influences. And if you can’t at least try, maybe we should think about finding Noodle a better place to stay.”

Murdoc didn’t know what to say. He had only known Noodle for a few days, but he already cared about her more than most. Russel seemed to be implying that he would take Noodle away if Murdoc didn’t stop drinking and smoking. For some reason, the thought of her not being around shook him to the core.

“Russel, listen. I’m not sure…” Murdoc trailed off, not wanting to admit that he didn’t know how to stop or what he might become if he tried.

“You know we can help. 2D and I. It won’t just be you laying off the hard stuff. We will too. I know 2D enjoys cigarettes and I don’t mind a good cigar. We all drink. So, we’ll all do this together so that Noodle won’t have to experience what you did. Sound good?”

Murdoc just nods.

“Hey Russel, why don’t you bring all the ash trays out here. We’ll set them up on the picnic table, try and get in the habitat of being outside.”

“Sure thing man.” It only took moments for Russel to move the ash trays before he retreated inside. Murdoc stayed behind, deciding to have a final smoke or four before heading back into the Winnebago.

What Murdoc didn’t know as he leaned against the picnic bench, enjoying the rush of nicotine, was that he had a spy. Noodle had been watching from the passenger’s seat of the camper the entire time. She worried that Russel was going to get mad at Murdoc and yell at him, or perhaps the other way around, but instead they seemed to have come to some sort of an agreement. When Russel had come inside he seemed happy enough. For some reason he gathered all the ashtrays and placed them outside with Murdoc.

Now Murdoc was alone outside, but he seemed to have come to the same conclusion that Noodle had come to. He wasn’t alone in the way that counted. She and Russel and 2D were his family now and Noodle knew that she wasn’t going to let her family down.

After three cigarettes he finally turned and came back inside. Noodle stayed at the front of the camper, pretending to watch 2D and Russel play some kind of game involving flicking a folded-up piece of paper at the other person. Murdoc made his way over to Noodle and sat down in the driver’s seat. They both watched 2D lose to Russel and the resulting scuffle that broke out, but it ended quickly as they both decided a rematch was in order.

“Hey, kid. You good?” Noodle turned to look at Murdoc, but his eyes never left the scene before them. Despite speaking, he seemed deep in thought.

The girl leaned forward to gently pat the man’s hand. Something important had happened tonight and he needed her support and comfort. “Hai. Good.”

\---------------

It was almost midnight and Noodle was still awake. The band was trying to get on a better sleeping schedule for her sake, but she couldn’t sleep. She felt restless. Both Murdoc and 2D had been asleep for a while but Russel had just gotten to sleep. His snoring filled the room and the moan that signaled Del’s release echoed through the camper. Noodle peaked her head out of her fort and motioned him over. The first night she had been slightly wary of him, but Russel had warned her about Del, saying that he was a ghost, but a friendly ghost. Noodle didn’t get to talk to him because she was asleep when he was around, but she was excited to have a conversation now. Usually the only time she got to hear from him was through letters he wrote to Russel during the night.

Del came over, crawled into the fort and Noodle pulled the blanket closed behind him. The top of his head floated through the table even though he was bent over.

“Hey kiddo. How’s it going?” Noodle wasn’t sure how to respond, mostly because she heard him speaking in Japanese.

“You speak another language?”

“Nope. Turns out there are no language barriers for ghosts.”

“Really?”

“Yep! Now, what’s up sweetheart? Can’t sleep?”

Noodle didn’t know how to explain her worries to Del, but she wasn’t one for overthinking things, so she decided to just spit it out.

“I don’t know these people. I don’t know anyone. I want to be part of their family but how do I know they won’t hurt me? Murdoc is scary, I know he’s dangerous. Russel looks like he could crush me. 2D might wake up and not remember me. They have taken care of me so far but what if that changes? I’m… afraid.”

A cold hand covered hers. “Listen kid, I don’t know about the other two, but Russ is the best person I’ve ever met. Let me tell you a story. Back when I was alive, Russ used to come over to my house all the time. My mom worked every second of every day, so he and I would always help with my little sisters. He was great. Braided their hair, read them bed time stories, played jump rope with them. Never let anything happen to them the entire time. You don’t have to worry about him. And Murdoc? He’s scared too. He’s scared of losing the band, he’s scared of hurting you and Russ and 2D. He’s scared that he’ll end up alone again with no band and no friends.”

“What about 2D?”

“I’m going to be real with you Noodle. 2D got hurt real bad. Right now he’s handling it pretty well but having your brain screwed with is no joke. He could wake up tomorrow and not remember anyone at all. If that happens, you need to be there for him. You know what it’s like to not remember. Support him like he’s supporting you. But until then, enjoy his company. Make sure he and the rest of the guys know you care about them. They’ve all been through hard times. They could use someone to remind them that the world has good things in it too.”

“Thanks, Del. I’ll tell them in the morning.”

“I hope you tell Murdoc you care for him before Russ wakes up. I want to see his reaction with my own eyes.”

Noodle nodded, promising that she would make sure Del was around. Having settled her fears, Del offered to teach her a few games that he and his sisters used to play. By morning, Noodle was a pro at Concentration, Two Truths and a Lie, Twenty Questions, Charades, Thumb Wrestling, and Chopsticks.

Luckily for Del, Murdoc was the first to wake up. Noodle heard him grunting awake and decided it was time to go big or go home. She launched herself up onto his bed, landing directly on his chest. She heard a rush of air leave his lungs but decided to ignore his suffering in favor of wrapping her arms tightly around him. A wheezing breath passed her ear, but she just squeezed harder. Del could be heard laughing in the background.

Once Murdoc got his bearings, he sat up and very gently pushed Noodle away. Del received a stink eye in response to his hysterics.

“You’re responsible for this, aren’t you?” Noodle decided at that moment to tackle hug Murdoc again. Murdoc went down flailing and shouting, the commotion being enough to wake Russel.

“What’s going on? It’s to early for all this screaming.”

“The girl’s gone crazy! She keeps trying to strangle me!”

“Murdoc, she’s just giving you a hug. Hug her back and get up. You can help with breakfast this morning.”

Murdoc did as he was told and climbed off the mattress. Noodle stayed behind, watching her guardians begin to go through their morning rituals. Murdoc woke 2D by dumping him out of the seat he used as a bed. Russel started pulling eggs out of the fridge to make breakfast. Soon Noodle would join the men, but for the moment she just wanted to enjoy the atmosphere. It was nice to have a family.

\---------------

“We are almost out of time Murdoc, but I have one last question for you. When we first started talking about your band a few sessions ago you said you lived with them for six months, but we’ve already discussed more than half a year’s worth of time. Mind explaining that for me?”

Murdoc nods, glad their session was almost over. He felt drained from talking about his band for so long and just wanted to go outside for a smoke. “Well, I lived with 2D for a while before we met Russel, then lived with the two of them for a few months before we met Noodle. We all only lived together in the Winnebago for six months before we got our record deal and were able to buy Kong.”

She notices his mood and lack of usual energy but makes sure to give Murdoc something to think about for the rest of the week. “That’s quite a lot of time to spend getting to know these people and in such close quarters. Do you think that had a positive effect on you?”

“Certainly didn’t hurt did it?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Konnichiwa 2D. Watashinonamaeha Noodle. = Hello 2D. My name is Noodle.
> 
> Alright guys, that's it for this chapter and I will be taking a little break. The next two chapters are planned out and partially written but I'm getting busy and don't have the time to finish them right now. I'll have more time around December, but I might try and finish a chapter before then. All depends on my work schedule.


	4. Calling Murdoc to Centerstage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Said I would be back in December and here I am! This chapter is slightly shorter than the others but not by much.

“During our last session you said you lived with the entire band for six months.”

Murdoc nods, sure where the question was going but not wanting to give in just yet. Today he didn’t really feel like talking but could already picture Russel’s disappointed face if he came out without having a conversation with the woman. “That’s right.”

“Quite a lot of time to spend with these three people.” She is calm, willing to let the subject drop if he asks her to. Russel’s face pops into his head again and he answers.

“It is.”

“A lot must have happened in those six months. Mind telling me about some of it?” Murdoc does mind, but he remembers why he’s here in an office with a therapist, remembers what he agreed to and the people he made promises to and decides to just get the talking over with.

“Didn’t really have any gigs at the start so we filled our time in different ways.”

\---------------

In between writing songs and practicing their music, the band had very little to do. Murdoc wasn’t used to stopping for breaks, but Russel insisted that Noodle and 2D needed to rest, that spending the entire day practicing would somehow hurt them. Murdoc didn’t see how, after all, his dad had put him through a lot worse.

Today, instead of just milling about the Winnebago and the mini mart parking lot, Russel decided to take Noodle to the park. It was within walking distance and apparently there was some kind of event going on. Murdoc hadn’t been paying close attention. If he didn’t have to go why did he need to know all the details?

Both he and 2D stayed back at the camper. Murdoc had a feeling that 2D wanted to go but just the expression on the blue haired man’s face told Murdoc all he needed to know. While the pain from the car crash was likely constant, some days were worse than others. Today seemed especially bad. Russel had given 2D the strongest medication he had. 2D then pulled all the blinds closed in the Winnebago and had been asleep since Russel and Noodle left earlier that morning. Murdoc stayed outside, not wanting to disturb 2D’s rest. After all, if 2D wasn’t feeling well, the band couldn’t practice, or at least that was the excuse that Murdoc made to himself.

“Murdoc-san! Murdoc-san!” Noodle came barreling into the parking lot out of nowhere, charging directly at Murdoc. She slammed into him but seemed too excited to care. Murdoc, on the other hand, doubled over, hoping that she hadn’t broken a rib on impact. She was much stronger than any eight-year-old should be, but Murdoc wrote that off a mixture of excitement on her part and a slight hangover on his.

“Murdoc-san! Dancing! Dancing!” She dissolved into Japanese, too hyper to even try to speak English.

“Kid, I don’t understand what dancing has to do with anything.” She continued ranting in Japanese and Murdoc was considering just locking her in the bathroom so she could wear herself out when Russel came running up, panting.

“Noodle,” he paused to take a few deep breaths, hands on his knees, head bent over, “What did I say about running away from me?”

She paused in her jumping to find the right words in English. “It’s bad.”

“Yes, it is. Something could happen, and you could get hurt.”

She began to rant in rapid fire Japanese again.

“I know you knew the way home but what if something had happened between the park and the camper? If something happened to you, we would all be really sad. Do you want us to be sad?” Murdoc smirked at Russel. Guilt tripping the kid was low but if it kept her from doing something dangerous, it was well deserved.

“No. Want happy for 2D-san and Murdoc-san and Russel-san.”

“Well, running off doesn’t make any of us happy at all. We worry about you, ok? Now, how about we tell Murdoc what we saw in the park today.”

Noodle completely forgot about being upset and went back to her fast-paced chattering. Russel gave the summery of their park visit to Murdoc, acting as a translator for Noodle.

“We saw some dancers in the park today. They were part of some kind of performance and Noodle was really into it. She wants dance lessons now.”

“Hai! Dancing!”

“I’m not paying for dance lessons.”

Murdoc had never seen someone kick a puppy, but he had a feeling that Noodle’s face at that exact moment had the puppy’s beat. “What I mean is, there’s no reason to pay for dance lessons because I can teach you.”

Russel’s booming laughter filled the empty lot and echoed off the buildings. Murdoc glared him down, but it only made Russel laugh harder.

“You’re going to teach her? You? Don’t think you could dance if you had to. Your life could be on the line and you still couldn’t do it.”

“Oh yeah? Come here Noodle, we’re going to show Russel how it’s done. Now, place your right hand in mine and put your left hand on my shoulder. Good, good.” Murdoc adjusted her form slightly. Russel watched, not truly believing what he was seeing, but Murdoc didn’t seem to notice.

“For now you are going to step up on my shoes until you get the hang of this, then you can try it on your own. Got it?” She smiled at him and carefully climbed onto the top of his shoes. He then began to count off and move in a simple box step. After a few rounds working through the step, Noodle seemed confident that she could do it without standing on Murdoc’s feet. They started again, this time with Noodle moving on her own. Murdoc moved slowly, making sure to give her instruction the entire time, explaining how to make the movements easier and where she could improve. After a few minutes when she seemed to have mastered the basic step and Murdoc turned back to Russel to gloat.

“See? No reason to pay some dumbass a butt load of money when I can teach her myself.”

Russel grinned. “That’s great and all, but the performers were hip-hop dancers, not ballroom dancers.” It took a few seconds for Murdoc to register where he had gone wrong. When it finally hit him, his entire face turned bright red and Russel suddenly wished for a camera.

Murdoc’s embarrassment quickly turned to rage. Before he could act on it, however, Noodle started yanking on his sleeve.

“More.”

Murdoc stared down at her, his eyes wide. “You really want to learn more?”

“Hai.”

“You know it’s not the same right? Hip-hop dancing and ballroom dancing are totally different.”

Noodle just rolled her eyes and reached for Murdoc’s hand again. Murdoc gave her a slight smile and a nod. “Ok. Let’s see if you can handle a waltz.” He lead her though another series of movements, going slow and having her stand on his feet again until she felt comfortable enough to try it on her own. This continued for an hour, Russel cheering every once in a while when Noodle mastered a particularly difficult move. They were working on the foxtrot when 2D finally emerged from the RV.

“Um, what’s going on?” The blue haired man was squinting at the scene, probably thinking he had stepped into the twilight zone.

“We’re teaching Noodle how to dance,” Russel replied, as both Murdoc and Noodle were distracted.

“Oh, do you think she wants to learn some ballet?”

Noodle’s head turned quickly, and she broke off from Murdoc to run at 2D.

“Hai! More dancing!”

“Ok, let’s do this!”

The two moved away from the lawn furniture so there would be lots of space. Murdoc walked back to sit next to Russel at the stolen picnic table. He leaned back against the table top, watching 2D teach Noodle how to curtsy. He was almost positive that curtsying had nothing to do with ballet, but he wasn’t going to say anything, not with Noodle giggling like she was as 2D curtsied at her.

“Dude, I have to ask. Where did you learn to dance like that?” Russel was looking straight ahead, but Murdoc knew he wasn’t paying attention to 2D’s instructions on the five basic ballet positions.

“My old man was a piece of crap. Used to sign me up for talent competitions so I could win money for his drinking habit. He realized early on that there were a lot more competitions out there, all offering cash prizes. Had me learn to dance using books and crap. Never did win a dance contest.”

Russel turned to look at Murdoc. His face was blank, completely void of emotion. It wasn’t hard to tell, though, that there was more to the story. Russel didn’t pry. He just patted Murdoc on the head, which was not taken well. The larger man chose to ignore the fact that Murdoc tried to bite him.

“Well, your old man’s not here now and you just gave our Noodle a pretty good day. She’s happy, and you’re the reason for that.”

Murdoc just scoffed in response but didn’t look away from 2D and Noodle jumping around the parking lot. Neither one of them seemed to be trying to dance, instead it looked like they were competing on who could jump higher. Despite the height 2D had on Noodle, she was winning.

Murdoc couldn’t help his mind wandering back to what Russel had said. It was almost comical to think that his shitty childhood had actually led to this moment. For his entire life, Murdoc had only known abuse and disappointment, but now, for the first time ever, he finally had people who cared about him and who he cared about as well.

\---------------

“Murdoc, who is this man?” 2D was standing by Murdoc’s bed, staring at the only picture hanging in a proper frame in the entire Winnebago. There were some polaroids of the band members floating around, mostly taken by 2D, but none of them had been framed and most had been hung using thumb tacks or pieces of tape.

Murdoc walked over and stood next to 2D. The picture was old and sun damaged, fading in spots so that it was slightly difficult to make out. Despite this, Murdoc didn’t even need to look at the picture to know who was in it. A man dressed in what could only be described as vampire wear stood next to a small boy with a bowl cut. The man had a cane in one hand, the other rested on the boy’s head. Murdoc knew that just moments after that picture was taken that cane had been swung against the boy’s back hard enough to break skin. There was still a slight scar from where it had hit that day.

“That’s my dad, Dee.”

“Huh. Doesn’t look like a very happy bloke.”

“No, I wouldn’t say that he was. He used to make me do all sorts of shit for him.”

“Like what?”

Murdoc glanced away, not meeting 2D’s eyes as he spoke. “Dad stuff mostly. Made me clean up after him, made me do all sorts of competitions to make him money to pay for his booze, had me entertain his friends by making a fool of myself. That sort of shit.”

“Muds. That’s not dad stuff. Or if it is, I’m glad my dad didn’t do that.”

“Sure it is. The kind of stuff that dads make their kids do to make them tough.”

2D let this sink in for a few seconds before turning to Murdoc sharply. He was concerned for the youngest member of the band, if this is what parenthood meant to Murdoc. “Are you going to do stuff like that to Noodle?”

“No! Of course not! I’m not going to let anything like that happen to her. That wouldn’t be right.”

“But it was alright for your dad to do it to you?” 2D felt a little bit like a therapist as he asked these questions. He wanted to help, wanted Murdoc to see why what his dad did was wrong.

“Well, sure. I’m not Noodle, I was a little shit.”

“You’ve called Noodle little shit, but that doesn’t mean she deserves any of that.”

“It’s just different 2D. You wouldn’t understand.”

Murdoc didn’t say anything else for a moment, then decided to start talking again. Despite seeming reserved about the topic he apparently had a lot to say.

“You know he’s the reason I’m a musician.”

2D was almost afraid to look at Murdoc. He didn’t want to know what Murdoc’s face looked like, he could hear the emotion in his voice, guess that his face would reflect the pain Murdoc felt, or worse yet, he might look defeated. From 2D’s experience, Murdoc was never defeated, he had the resilience and will to succeed that most people could only dream of. Seeing such a man torn down by a single picture was too much for 2D.

“So what?” 2D’s voice cracked slightly as he spoke.

“So I owe him 2D. Everything that I am, everything that I have now, the band, knowing you and Russel and Noodle, all of it is because of him. If he had never forced me to learn I wouldn’t be here today. No matter how far I go back, it all starts with him. Everything that I am is because of him.” It was at this moment that 2D decided he wasn’t going to just let Murdoc look down on himself anymore. The pain of him hating himself was too much and 2D had to change that in anyway he could.

“That doesn’t mean you owe him anything Muds. He was your dad, but he was never your family. You don’t have to force yourself to like him or be near him or even think about him. Besides, you’ve been away from him for years. Maybe he did make you learn to play but you’re a good bass player because you stuck with it, because you are talented. You are here with me and Russel and Noodle because of the choices you made after leaving him behind. He stopped being a part of your life so long ago, everything that has happened after is because of you and has nothing to do with him.”

The two went silent for a moment, still looking at the picture. Both were thinking hard about what the other had said.

“Why do you keep it around?”

“What?”

“Why do you keep the picture? It obviously makes you feel bad, he wasn’t a good person, why keep it?”

“Well, to remind myself I guess. It’s where I came from, it’s important to remember that the man in that picture is my father. It reminds me that I’m no better than him. I’m just as shitty as he is.”

2D nodded, considering Murdoc’s words. “Maybe you should get rid of it.”

“Why would I do that?”

“If it makes you feel this bad, maybe you should just toss it out. You aren’t like him, but if it makes you feel like you are, you should get rid of it so you don’t. Besides, there are a lot better pictures out there. I even have a poster of a kitten than says ‘Hang in there!’ on it. That’s cute. And a lot nicer than a picture of a man who made you feel this badly about yourself.”

“2D, it’s not that simple.”

“Why not?”

“Because…” Murdoc couldn’t think of a reason not to. He tried, running through all of the excuses he had made to himself over the years but 2D’s simple argument that it made him feel bad so it should be gone had all of Murdoc’s reasons bet. There wasn’t a reason to keep it. Not now, after everything the that had happened.

“You know what Dents. You’re right, I should get rid of it.” Instead of just throwing it away in the trash, Murdoc grabbed the picture off the wall, opened the closest window, and flung it as far as he could. From the loud sound of shattering glass, he would guess that it hit a window of a nearby building, but he didn’t even look. He didn’t care. It was gone now, he would never have to see it again.

“Now that that’s done, we’ve got an empty space on the wall. What do you suggest we put here? And don’t say that stupid kitten poster. If I see that poster I’m going to set it on fire.” 2D frowned at that statement but it didn’t last. His expression turned thoughtful as he considered exactly what to put at this spot. It was important, it needed to be special and good, after how terrible and bad the last picture was. Finally, after a few minutes of staring at the empty space, 2D had an idea.

He walked over to one of his drawers and began to dig in a box of printed pictures. It took him while, but he finally found what he was looking for. The next few minutes were spent making a makeshift frame for the picture out of bits of construction paper 2D found lying around, but finally he returned with something appropriate. He taped the picture up carefully, ensuring it wasn’t crooked, then stepped back to evaluate it with Murdoc.

It was the only group picture that 2D could find. The picture its self was slightly blurry, Russel was only partially in the shot, Noodle looked less like a kid and more like a black smudge wearing a purple jacket, 2D’s mouth was open wide and his eyes were squinting shut, but this picture was a favorite of 2D’s for one reason. Behind the rest of the group was Murdoc, smiling as he watched their antics. It was a gentle smile, something that was caught on camera purely by luck, something that he never would have let any of them see if he knew how to hide it better. Still, it was there, and even printed out for posterity. Murdoc looked at his band the same way he looked at his beloved bass, the same way he watched the sun rise, the same way he grinned when talking about living the pirate’s life. It was a smile that meant he loved them, and that was why 2D saved the picture, even though everything else seemed to indicate that it should be thrown away. 2D knew better. This picture was special, he wouldn’t let Murdoc forget what he had now, that life was better because there were people who loved Murdoc like Murdoc loved them.

“Murdoc? What do you think? Is it good?”

“Yeah 2D. It’s good.”

\---------------

Murdoc seemed to be the only one who was worried. Everyone else was milling about, laughing and eating the food that Russel grilled, not bothering to even consider the dangerous person that stood amongst them. Then again, no one else seemed to think Mrs. Pot dangerous. It was their funeral.

The band seemed to not just accept Mrs. Pot but actually enjoy her company. At the moment, she and Russel were having a deep conversation about marinating meat, something that didn’t interest Noodle at all going by her facial expression. It was that kind of expression that led to the entire band having to evacuate the Winne at three in the morning because Noodle decided to bake everything she could find in pantry. The small fire that this started was taken care of quickly, but Murdoc didn’t feel like tempting fate again.

He walked over to the group, keeping a watchful eye on Mrs. Pot, and scooped Noodle off her feet and into his arms. She started to giggle but it quickly grew to laughter as Murdoc started spinning in circles.

“Faster Murdoc-san, faster!” Murdoc did a few more spins before putting her down. She knew Murdoc wouldn’t do that again but it reminded her that 2D was always up for a piggy bag ride. Once both 2D and the little girl were distracted, Murdoc turned back to Mrs. Pot. The woman was silent, watching him with narrowed eyes. Murdoc was almost worried that she somehow read his mind and wasn’t happy to find out that he didn’t want her around Noodle, that he thought she might be able to turn the little girl into a demon, or even worse, a mini version of Mrs. Pot. The bass player was shaken from his thoughts when Mrs. Pot decided to speak.

“Mr. Niccals, would you mind if I spoke to you in private for a moment?” Despite the question making it seem like he had a choice, she was already pulling him away. Murdoc looked to Russel, hoping that the desperation and fear on his face would be enough for him to jump in and help, but the drummer had already returned to the grill leaving Murdoc to face Mrs. Pot alone.

They walked for quite a bit and were far enough away that no one would be able to hear their conversation before Mrs. Pot finally released his arm.

“I wanted to talk to you about Noodle.” Murdoc held up a hand, not even giving her a chance to finish. He knew what she was going to say, that he was a bad influence on her, that he wasn’t a fit parent, that she thinks it would be best that he turn Noodle over to child protective services. Murdoc wasn’t going to let her say those things and decided to cut her off before she could start.

“Listen here, I don’t care if you are a she-devil and you’re going to curse me or hex me or do whatever evil thing you do, Noodle is my kid. I’ve worked hard to turn myself around for her, I’m not about to just let her go or leave the band. We’ve all done so much for each other and come so far and I’m not going to let some random woman – no, harpy – change that. You don’t have any right to say that I shouldn’t be around Noodle!”

For a few long moments Mrs. Pot said nothing. Her face was emotionless, her eyes distant. It took a second, but Murdoc came to the sudden realization that he had likely just pissed off a very powerful woman. He stood frozen in place, too scared to move but well aware that he should probably start running. He couldn’t even begin to apologize before she started to reply.

“Mr. Niccals. If you would have let me speak, I was going to say that I’m proud of you. I don’t know who you were before you met my son, but I have a feeling I wouldn’t have liked you very much. If I’m honest, I didn’t like you at all when I first met you. But you have proven yourself to me, changed in the time I’ve known you and worked hard to become a better person. That’s admirable.”  

Murdoc didn’t know what to say. He had never considered that she might approve of him, that she might be ok with him caring for Noodle. She seemed to sense that he was too shocked by her change in attitude towards him to speak.

“I would like to support you through this, if you would let me. We didn’t start off on the right foot, but you have put a lot of effort into your band and your friends. If there is ever anything I can do to relieve your stress, please just let me know. Even if it’s just watching Noodle for the day or giving you some advice on how to help her get over a cold. Children are stressful but having help can lessen the burden.”

Murdoc still said nothing.

“Dear, are you alright?”

Finally he was able to shake himself from his stupor and reply. “I… didn’t expect that. Um, thank you. Noodle means a lot to us, the kid’s probably the only reason any of us stuck around. She’s a good kid, we want to take care of her. It’s hard living in the Winne with four people but we’re making it work. Got space outside, we know sometimes we each need time alone and try to respect that.” Murdoc wasn’t quite sure how to continue but he knew the conversation wasn’t over.

“You’re doing the right thing.”

“What?”

“You are doing the right thing, taking care of her. It’s hard, there will be times when you question everything, but you are doing the right thing. You are giving her a chance to have a good life. Foster care isn’t usually what is best for children.” Something about the look in Mrs. Pot’s eyes said she had some experience, but Murdoc wasn’t going to push.

“Thank you. I’m not going to say it’s been easy but we’re trying the best we can.”

“And that’s all you can do.”

They both turned to look back at their family and friends. Russel was finished grilling and was happily munching on a burger while 2D and Mr. Pot swung Noodle into the air. She was laughing and smiling, but when she caught Murdoc’s eye her grin grew wider. Noodle pulled away from the other two and came running at Murdoc, throwing herself at him and almost knocking him to the ground.

“Murdoc-san, Murdoc-san, come play!” Murdoc let her pull him back towards the group leaving Mrs. Pot behind. She watched them go, the little girl having won the hearts of three grown men. They would take care of her, protect her with their lives, ensure that she grew up safe. It was all a child could ask for and Mrs. Pot was sure they would do a wonderful job.

\---------------

“Alright, I’m sick of this.” Russel was standing over a pile of laundry that was nearly as tall has he was. Murdoc looked up from his notebook, ready to watch Russel struggle with the giant mess. A smug look spread across Murdoc’s face. Russel was always on Murdoc about cleaning up and keeping the Winne organized, watching the impending fight with the laundry was going to be a sweet reward for putting up with the nagging for months now. And with 2D and Noodle out for the day visiting 2D’s family, Murdoc would get to hear the uncensored version. It would be better entertainment than any movie.

“Murdoc, drive to a laundromat. I’m not putting up with this anymore.”

“Excuse me?”

“Turn on this rust bucket and drive us to the closest place that has washers and driers. There’s a shit ton of dirty clothes and blankets and everything else and I’m done with it. We are washing everything that can be washed and we’re doing it today.”

“And if I refuse?” Murdoc wasn’t about to take orders without a fight. Russel, however, seemed to have learned how to give the prefect death glare from Mrs. Pot and wasn’t about to deal with Murdoc’s defiance.

“How would you like me to crush you like a tin can?”

“Which way’s the closest laundromat?”

“That’s what I thought.”

After a few wrong turns the two finally found a place. It was a small, with only four washes and four driers. When they opened the door of the Winnebago saw through the laundromat’s glass windows that three of the washers were already in use the sheer amount of dirty clothes came into perspective. It was going to be a long day.

“How about we come back later Russ? I mean, look. Neither one of us wants to be here, and with the one washer it’s going to take forever. Noodle and 2D are gone today, we could just go to a pub and have a couple drinks instead.” The look Murdoc was met with told him that they were not going to a pub anytime soon.

“Murdoc, pick up that laundry basket and get your lazy ass inside the laundromat or you will regret being born.” Murdoc had never run so fast in his entire life. As he exited the Winne he tripped and almost dumped the contents of the basket on the ground but knowing that Russel was behind him and searing mad helped him recover and lurch into the building, out of breath and panting. The only other person inside, an older woman reading a home improvement magazine, didn’t even bother looking up at him.

“Alright. You start sorting what we have. Whites, socks, and underwear get set aside. Hand me everything else.” Russel was already loading the only washer with clothes, putting the delicates into a separate basket. He was a nag, but Murdoc had to hand it to the man, at least he was organized. The washer was filled quickly but the amount of dirty clothes didn’t seem to go down at all. Worse yet, there was still more in the Winne.

“We’re going to be here a while mate.”

“That’s fine. Neither one of us had anything to do today.” Russel sat down near the window, starting to sort the remaining clothes. Murdoc hovered for a moment, not sure if he wanted to sit down next to Russel or go back to the Winne. Finally he decided that Russel had calmed down enough that his life wasn’t in danger. In fact, Russel seemed almost tranquil. For a while neither one of them spoke, Russel finishing up the sorting, then just leaning back and closing his eyes with a small smile slowly growing on his face. For the life of him, Murdoc couldn’t figure out why he was acting so differently than he was before they got inside the building.

“Why do you seem so happy here? It’s a laundromat. Not like it’s a five-star hotel or some girl’s bedroom. You’re not going to get lucky here.”

Russel turned to look at him, his face twisting into a frown.

“Man, you’re disgusting sometimes. I’m not looking for sex when I do the laundry. Can’t you just enjoy the atmosphere?”

“What atmosphere?”

“Well for one, it always smells nice in a laundromat. Smells clean. And it’s always warm. The machines make a nice white noise. It’s comforting.”

“That’s not enough to be comforting and it’s certainly not enough to make you smile. No, something else is up.” Murdoc wouldn’t usually push for information, but he was bored and a good story would pass the time.

Russel looked him over, probably trying to decide if he was serious about his request, before nodded.

“Del’s mom kind of took me in. She practically adopted me as her own, I became her second son. It started out with just me hanging out around the apartment, helping Del watch after his sisters while his mom was at work. Then after a while she had me stay over for dinner with the family. Didn’t take long for her to start including me in all the family events, even went to a family reunion with them once. Del knocked the punch bowl over on one of his sisters and she came crying to me instead of her momma. Think that was really the point that she decided to just take me in. Even had me call her momma and everything.”

Murdoc wasn’t sure what this had to do with the laundromat but there was nothing else to do but listen. He tried to look interested so Russel would continue.

“I didn’t want to just take from her, she kept feeding me and I knew she wasn’t well off. When I told her about how I felt she told me I could help her do laundry. She always hated it, said it was the worst chore in the world, a complete waste of time. I would do most of the work for her, sorting and loading everything, let her take a break for a bit. Learned a lot about her and the family in apartment laundry room. We talked about everything, about the future, about the kids, about our friends and loved ones. She had a lot of great advice. I miss talking to her.”

The expression on Russel’s face shifted. He stopped smiling, his eyes went to the floor.

“Don’t know if you want to hear any more of this.”

Murdoc knew something bad was coming, knew the rest of the story wasn’t happy, but he wanted to know how it ended. “Got nothing better to do Russ. Besides, can’t leave me hanging in the middle.”

Russel gave him a sad smile before continuing. “Del died pretty suddenly you know. We weren’t expecting it, sure there was a lot of gun violence around, but you never expect anything to happen to you or someone you know. It always happens to another person, always something you hear about on the news.” The story was getting more interesting and Russel had Murdoc’s full attention. He also had the attention of the lady taking up the three other washers, but Russel didn’t seem to worried about that.

“I held his momma’s hand in the emergency room. Del didn’t die right away, we were able to get him to the hospital. For a second, we thought he might make it but in my heart I knew better. He died the instant he was shot, that’s when his ghost entered me. There was no chance he was waking up but his body held on for a while. His soul though, that was long gone.” Murdoc couldn’t look at Russel. His voice had gone soft, a sniffle could be heard from the other side of the laundromat.

“After he died we had a service. He was cremated. I tired to keep in contact with his momma but things are… different. She can’t look at me without seeing him. I never did tell her I was possessed, she would tell me to get him exorcised. I can’t do that though, not yet. He was my friend and I-” Both Russel and the older woman were now crying and Murdoc had a sick feeling in his gut. Dealing with emotion was never his strong suit, and he certainly didn’t know how to handle people who were crying. He settled for putting his hand on Russel’s shoulder.

“Sounds like you were a real good friend and an important member of that family. You said it yourself, got some good memories from it. Otherwise you wouldn’t have gotten all smiley when we came in here. Loss is hard but remembering people for the good things, it’s better right? Helps you move on, helps them move on too. It just, helps.” Murdoc’s little speech was met with more crying, the nosy woman who had been listening in was now frantically searching her bag for a tissue. Russel, on the other hand, was smiling at him.

“What? What did I say? Why are you smiling at me like that?” For some reason this made Russel laugh.

“Just glad I found such a great new family, even if you all live like barn animals.”

“I’ll have you know that I was perfectly fine living that way. You’re the one that has a problem with it.” This just made Russel laugh harder.

Their bickering was interrupted by the ding of the washer. Russel asked Murdoc to start moving the wet clothes to a dryer. Once this was done Russel put in the next load and started it up. The pile of clothes and things that needed washed was only slightly smaller.

“Well, looks like we’re going to be here a while. Needed done though.” Russel didn’t seem to have a problem with this as he leaned back in his chair and stretched his legs out as he spoke. Murdoc thought about the day, about everything Russel had told him and nodded.

“Not a bad thing, cleaning things up.”

“Nope. And we’re making some pretty good memories too, wouldn’t you say?” Murdoc looked at Russel and his blinding grin.

“You’re not wrong. Don’t get it in you’re head though. I may do this with you once but it’s not happening again. I will not be roped into doing the laundry with you just because you told me your tragic back story.” Murdoc said this statement with conviction, but Russel still found a way to laugh.

“Whatever you say man.”

Years later Murdoc would look back at that moment and realize he was screwed. By entering that laundromat and listening to Russel’s story he was making an untold promise to be there on every wash day the band had. Every time Russel needed to do the laundry, Murdoc somehow ended up going with him. If he thought about it a little bit more, Murdoc would find he didn’t mind this, sitting in the laundry room with the drummer while the machines provided white noise and the room filled with the smell of fabric softener. And at the end of the day, he enjoyed spending time with Russel, talking about their future, about the band, about their little family.

\---------------

It was well past midnight when Russel finally fell asleep and Del emerged. Murdoc didn’t even bother to turn and look as he waved at the ghost. After spending the day at the laundromat, Russel and Murdoc had received a call that 2D and Noodle would be spending the night at his parent’s place. From what Murdoc could gather from the phone call, 2D and Noodle would be having a sleep over, complete with Disney movies, pizza, and a pillow fight. Murdoc was sure that 2D would lose, Noodle was somehow stronger than all of them.

“Hey man, where’s the kid? She asleep?” Del was standing over Murdoc, a giant smile on his face.

“She’s out for the night with 2D and his family. Gonna spend her time filling up on candy and watching princess movies.” Del’s smile somehow grew even wider.

“Good, kid needs some time to be a kid.”

“You and 2D are usually the ones to make sure she gets to be a kid. Russel’s always on about safety and making sure she’s healthy, guess she needs that in her life too.”

Del sat down across from Murdoc at the table and looked at him hard, tilting his head in the same way a curious dog might. “And what about you? What do you do for Noodle?” He didn’t sound like he was accusing Murdoc of something, but Murdoc was suspicious. Despite this suspicion, he decided to be honest.

“Not sure. Doesn’t feel like much really. She’s a good kid and I’m… not the best influence.”

“See, I think you’re wrong there.”

Murdoc rolled his eyes. The ghost was really out of his mind if he didn’t agree with Murdoc on this. “Oh really? You think it’s good for a little kid to be around an alcoholic lay about with no job, no money, and no future?”

“I don’t think it would be good for Noodle to be around someone like that, but you’re not that person so I’m not worried.” Del was still smiling but Murdoc was starting to get irritated. Couldn’t he see that someone like Murdoc shouldn’t be around a sweet kid like Noodle?

“Listen mate, I know you only come around when Russel’s asleep so you might not know this, but I’m not a good guy. You don’t know me, none of these people do. I’ve done some fucked up shit in the past, that’s not going to change.”

“Well yeah, you’re past is gonna stay the same, can’t change that, but you are in charge of who you are now, and you are doing a good job of being a good role model for Noodle.”

“You’ve gone barmy. I’m the worst role model for a kid you could find.”

“That’s not true. Kids are smart, they know when someone is putting effort in. They can tell when someone is trying. Noodle knows you’ve been working hard to make changes in your life so she’s safer. She can see that you’re improving, even if you can’t. She looks up to you because change is hard but you’re doing it for her. That’s an awesome person for a kid to watch and be around.”

Del’s words were kind, but they felt like they should be directed at somebody else. Murdoc looked down at the table top, not willing to met Del’s eyes. “But what if it’s not enough. Sure I’m trying but I don’t have a good history. I could so easily fall off the wagon, start drinking heavily again, start doing… some not so great things. She wouldn’t be safe around me then, might not even be safe around me now.”

“Well let’s look at it this way. You ever have friends like Stu and Russ?”

“Can’t say I have.”

“What about a kid? Ever have a kid in your life?”

“No.”

“Then you are in an entirely new situation. You can’t know what’s gonna happen, none of you can. This band is something completely different from anything any of you have ever done and none of you know if it’s going to work out or not.”

“You know, this isn’t all that comforting.”

“It’s just the truth, man. The band could fail miserably, you could all split and leave it in the past, go back to the way things were before. Or, for all you know, it could be great. Maybe it will be a huge success. You’ll never know if you just give up, but I don’t see that happening. You’re on the right track man. And I’m sure you’ve struggled but the great thing about this situation? You’re not in it alone. You’ve got some awesome people supporting you.”

“They’re not half bad.” Murdoc gave Del a small smile and Del returned it with a grin of his own.

“That’s right. Don’t worry about Noodle. The kid’s strong. And smart. She knows a jerk when she sees one, she wouldn’t put up with you if she didn’t like you.”

“Well you’re not wrong about that. She’s certainly opinionated for a kid, isn’t she?”

“Dude, you have no idea.” Murdoc spent the rest of the night listening to Del tell stories about his little sisters, the trouble they got into and their set-in- stone opinions about anything and everything. By the time morning came Murdoc knew more about Del’s family than his own.

Russel started to shift around and Del’s form scattered for a moment before reforming.

“Well man, looks like our boy’s about to wake up. Remember what I said. Noodle’s in good hands with you and the other two. No need to doubt it.” Russel shifted again, and Del’s form wavered.

“I won’t. Thanks for talking to me, it helped.”

“Anytime.” Del had just enough time to give Murdoc a thumbs up and blind him with a final grin before Russel woke up and the ghost disappeared.

The other man sat up and looked Murdoc up and down. “Long night?”

“Yeah, but not in a bad way.”

\---------------

 “Um, Murdoc?”

“What is it, Dents?”

“We’re out of space.”

“What are you talking about?” Murdoc looked up from the table that was covered in Japanese to English textbooks and worksheets. Noodle was writing diligently on one to help her learn the names of animals. She seemed fond of cats, as she had written the word over and over again.

“Well, the wall where we put all the finished songs? It’s full.” 2D pointed to the wall behind Murdoc’s bed. Every centimeter of space was taken, even the window and curtains had been covered with papers. Most, however, weren’t finished songs. Drawings and worksheets from Noodle mingled with letters from Del that he wrote Russel during the night. 2D had saved every fortune from every fortune cookie the band had ever gotten, often ended up taping them to badly taken polaroid pictures of the group, and Murdoc noticed that even some of his sketches from his notebooks had somehow ended up on the wall. A few feathers and a small animal skull could have only been put up by Russel. It almost felt like a weird accomplishment, some form of twisted family portrait, a collage that the entire band had created together. Murdoc didn’t want it to end with only one wall.

He walked over to the closest wall, near the bathroom door, and began to pull papers down, shoving them into an empty duffle bag lying nearby. He continued this until all the walls in the RV had been cleared except for the wall by his bed and the single group photo where his dad’s picture used to hang. When Murdoc finally finished and turned around, he realized that the rest of the band was staring.

“There. Plenty of room now.” Looking around the Winnebago, it now looked like a place they all lived, rather than a place that three people who Murdoc didn’t know had taken over. Without the ‘evil villain interior design,’ as Russel would call it, the finished song wall was more visible, as well as the evidence of their family unit. The drawings that Noodle had made now stood out from their place on the fridge. The insane number of pine tree scented, generic tree shaped air fresheners that Russel had hung from the ceiling now seemed to attract more attention. The horror movies that 2D loved were more eye catching from where they had spilled onto multiple counter tops. Details, like the small TV and CD player on the floor in the corner, stuffed animals sticking out from odd places, and random shoes scattered along the floor, were noticeable now that all the mess was gone.

After taking everything in, Murdoc sat back down to check on Noodle’s progress. She was smiling at him and hadn’t written a single word since he left.

“What?”

She just kept smiling.

“What are you smiling at?”

Her smile turned into a grin. “Happy.”

Murdoc couldn’t look away, enchanted by the idea of something he did making another person feel happy. “Huh. That’s. Um. Good.”

She nodded and returned to her worksheet. Murdoc wondered if it was too early to get her a cat.

\---------------

Murdoc could feel the blood rushing through his veins as he ran for his life. Heavy footsteps pounded behind him, but Murdoc didn’t dare look back. He knew who was chasing him, he knew why, he knew if they caught him they would kill him. None of this really bothered him though. What pushed him forward was the fact that these people knew the names of his band members and would go after them once Murdoc was out of the way. He wasn’t about to let them get hurt because he was stupid enough to trust criminals to hold up their end of the deal. Although, the criminals were stupid enough to trust Murdoc to actually pay up, so he felt like they deserved at least some of the blame.

A shot went off, missing Murdoc’s head by only a few centimeters and the sudden pump of adrenaline he got from the scare allowed Murdoc to weave in and out of alley ways, dodging hands and ducking bullets. He lost track of time, it was hard to tell in the blur of panic that had taken over, but he finally reached the Winnebago, seemingly without being followed. Having it in his sights caused him to give one final push as he launched himself through the door and slammed it shut behind him, only to collapse against it, breathing hard.

“Dude, you ok?” Murdoc took a deep breath then scanned the room. 2D was sitting on the couch with a book in his lap, Noodle was at the kitchen table making bracelets out of shitty guitar strings, Russel was resting on the floor polishing his cymbals. He didn’t even bother replying to Russel’s question, instead deciding to grab Noodle and strap her into the passenger seat. He then threw the manila envelope he had been carrying at Russel as he buckled into the driver’s seat. Murdoc didn’t even bother to check if the others were sitting down before pulling out of the parking lot as fast as he could.

“Murdoc, what’s going on? What is this and why are we leaving?” Russel was standing over Murdoc, holding onto back of the seat so he wouldn’t be flung to the floor, waving the folder in the air. Murdoc didn’t turn to look at him.

“We need to get away. Read the papers, they’ll probably explain just about everything.” Russel sat down and did as he was told. The silence that followed told Murdoc all he needed to know. He had already seen it, he knew what Russel was looking at. Inside the envelope was a set of documents for Noodle. The one on top was the declaration of guardianship. Russel Hobbs was listed as her primary guardian, Stuart Pot listed as second, Murdoc Niccals listed last. The name at the top of the page, the name of the child, was listed as Yuuki Noodle Hobbs.

“It’s a good name, man.”

“It means great hope. Seemed right.”

“And the last name?”

“You were right. I’m not stable, I shouldn’t have that responsibility.”

“Hm. You did good man.” Murdoc just nodded and kept driving. He didn’t stop until the warning light for low gas came on which caused him to pull over in the first gas station he could find.

“Russel, fill up the tank.” Murdoc grabbed a screwdriver from a kitchen drawer and stormed out of the Winnebago, not waiting for a response. From the loud footsteps following him, Murdoc could tell that Russel had listened. He must have understood that this wasn’t a request, it was not to be debated.

As Russel filled up the tank, Murdoc moved to the back of the Winnebago and made quick work of unscrewing and removing the license plate. He would have to get a new one when they finally found someplace far enough away but Murdoc knew they weren’t there yet. Two hours of driving wasn’t enough. They could still be followed, still be caught. They had to keep going until they found someplace to hide, somewhere far away.

“Hey Murdoc, tank’s full.” Murdoc looked up. Russel was standing over him, face pinched, frown slowly forming on his face. Murdoc realized that he must have been kneeling behind the Winnebago for a while, worry causing him to space out.

He shot up, startling Russel into taking a few steps back. “Right. Get inside. We need to keep going.”

“Muds. You can tell me what’s going on. Those people you got the paperwork from, they’re dangerous, aren’t they? But we’ve been driving in circles for a while now. It’s probably safe to stop.” Murdoc could tell that the other man was trying to help but even listening to the words made Murdoc’s hands shake. Just the thought, the idea of stopping before he was sure they hadn’t been followed, he couldn’t even begin to think it.

“No. We need to keep going. We’ll stop soon, but not until we’ve gone further. Got to find someplace safer. Someplace where they can’t track us.”

“And where is that Muds? You’ve got us all freaking out.”

“I don’t know! Just let me do this. Let me get us somewhere safe.”

A few moments of silence passed between them before Russel finally nodded. “Ok. Yeah, find us a place to stay. Get us home, man.”

They climbed back into the Winnebago and started driving again. It took another few hours for Murdoc to find the perfect place to hide. They were in Essex, taking random turns on the outskirts of town when Murdoc found what he was looking for. Sandwiched between an old factory and an abandoned storage unit was a warehouse, its open doors hidden in the shadows of the surrounding buildings. Murdoc turned towards the warehouse and flipped on the headlights to see inside. Once he saw that it was empty, with high enough ceilings and plenty of space to maneuver the Winnebago, he pulled inside and parked against a wall.

“Muds, where are we?” After hours Murdoc finally took a moment to stand up and look at the people around him. 2D and Russel were sitting at the kitchen table. Russel knew what was going on, but 2D was still in the dark. Noodle stayed in the passenger seat, her face impassive.

“I had to get us away.”

“But why?”

“Noodle needed her papers and we had to leave. We just had to, 2D. I couldn’t let you get- I couldn’t. I won’t-” Murdoc could feel each breath catching in his throat, fear rising to the front of his mind. He crumbled to the ground, trying desperately to breathe, tears beginning to form in his eyes. A small, warm hand covered his and the second Noodle came into his vision he wrapped his arms around her, practically crushing her against his chest.

Pain coursed though Murdoc’s body, stronger than anything he had ever felt. It wasn’t physical, Murdoc doubted that any physical pain could even come close to this. The thought of losing what he had, the little girl who was becoming more like his daughter every day, his best friend who sometimes forgot how to tie his shoes, the man who was quickly becoming his confidant, had nearly broken him. Staring down the gun that had been pointed at him only hours ago had only brought thoughts like “What will happen to my family? They are depending on me to do this. They need me to do this, to get them this. Nothing else matters except for this. I need to get back to them, get them somewhere safe. If anything happened to them-” Murdoc gasped, emotional pain searing through his core causing him to grip Noodle tighter. The little girl didn’t squirm, didn’t move. She just stood still, letting her father figure sob openly onto her shoulder. The tears burned his face going down, and for a second he feared that they might be burning Noodle as well, before realizing that they probably weren’t even hurting him. That instead, his body was turning his fear and distress into physical pain just so his brain could process it.

A pair of thick arms wrapped around both of them, followed by a pair of much skinner arms. Together the band huddled on the floor, holding each other and trying to calm Murdoc down.

Even as Murdoc tries to recall exactly what happened years later he struggles. He doesn’t forget, however, Russel’s words to him as they all sat on the dirty floor of the Winnebago. As Murdoc took careful breathes in an attempt to stop crying, Russel mumbled into his hair, but each word is crystal clear in Murdoc’s memory.

“Hey man, we’re safe. It’s ok, you did it. We’re all here. We’re safe. Everything’s fine. You did it. You got us home.”

\---------------

“Well that’s our time for today. Thank you for your-” But Murdoc doesn’t even let her finish before he is walking out the door. The day has been long and stressful and the last thing he wants is to deal with the woman’s small talk.

He makes it to the lobby before he gets stopped, but in this case he doesn’t really mind. The entire band is waiting to pick him up and the second Noodle sees him she launches herself into his arms. He scoops her up and she begins to chat about her day in broken English. 2D and Russel stand up, following him out as he walks out of the office. Despite the stress of the visit, his band was here for him and that’s all that mattered at the end of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to my band who encouraged me to actually get this chapter done. It would have never been finished without their support.
> 
> Tumblr: randomcannedcheese

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr: randomcannedcheese


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